How has 20th century Indigenous/Indigenist art influenced the ways in which Indigenous peoples of Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico were viewed? By comparing painting’s representative qualities and photography’s manipulation of reality, we can begin to understand what the art evoked in the public sphere, and how it functioned to change the public’s perceptions of Indigenous peoples in these areas. Shifting representations and the concept of (de)colonizing representations will illuminate the ways in which people have viewed varying degrees of indigeneity.