Mola

1950s-60s

Molas are colorful multilayered panels that adourn women's blouses of the Kuna people of coastal Panama. The earliest designs were primarily adapted from geometric body painting but evolved into a florescence of motifs, including mythological beings, sea creatures, and everyday scenes.

Cotton cloth and cotton thread

Overall: 23 x 27 in. (58.4 x 68.6 cm)

Gift of an anonymous donor

2019.32.10

Provenance: Private collection, Shaw Island, Washington, by the 1960s; to the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2019

Photo: Scott Leen

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing [on view Mar. 3 - Oct. 10, 2021].

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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