How it began
Guna women on the Caribbean coast and islands of Panama began making molas around the turn of the twentieth century. According to the Cleveland Museum of Art, they were already engaged in foreign trade networks and used imported cloth, thread and needles to invent a new style of dress. The panels form the front and back of a woman's blouse. The William Benton Museum of Art notes that what led Guna women to take up the difficult reverse applique technique is unclear.
How it works
Layers of cotton fabric in different colors are basted together. The maker cuts a design into the top layer, folds the cut edges under and sews them down, so that the color of the layer beneath shows through. Embroidery may be added. Materials have included imported cloth, thread, needles and razor blades, and later scissors.
How it spread
Outsiders collected molas in the early decades of the twentieth century. Tourism raised sales in the 1940s, and in the 1960s women began making molas expressly for sale. Molas entered museum collections, and in the 1990s Guna representatives visited the Smithsonian to study older designs and bring them back to their communities. Guna women continue to sew molas by hand, both for their own blouses and for sale. The Cleveland Museum of Art calls molas the single most recognizable element of Guna cultural identity.
Who pushed back
In 1918 Panamanian president Belisario Porras set out to eradicate Guna culture and stationed police in Guna communities to suppress traditional practices, including the new women's dress. After more than six years of this pressure, the Guna rose in the Guna Revolution of 1925, forced the police out and won an agreement with the republic that gave them autonomy. Wearing molas became an act of resistance.
