As our Taíno ancestors practically vanished from our land, their legacy lives on through the objects they left behind —sophisticatedly beautiful artworks made from stone, shell, wood or earthenware.

There are thousands of them to be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution; therefore, the Smithsonian Latino Center lead a research project on the indigenous legacy within the Caribbean region, alongside the National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Natural History in Santo Domingo and several collaborators located in the American continent and Europe. Jewels of Taíno Art, produced thanks to the support of the Fundación de Culturas Americanas, the Fundación García Arévalo and the Museo Regional Altos de Chavón, provides photo access to a slice of those collections and to the resulting research, giving today’s Antillean dwellers many necessary references to pinpoint the impact of the Taíno world on the history, the economy and the collective imagination of our people. 

THE TEAM

Manuel García Arévalo

Historian, writer and collector

Juan Rodríguez Acosta

Curator and former director of the Museo del Hombre Dominicano

Víctor Siladi

Photographer and art director

Nemanja Branković

Photographer

Massiel Capellán

Graphic designer

Martha Lugo

Editorial director and translator

Josefina Diéguez

Translator