The mola maker has progressed through many styles from geometric shapes, to....



pictures of the animals and the common and beneficial creatures around her.

.

.... to some that are not so pleasant to have around.

But in recent years, the last fifteen or twenty.. the subject of her work has been primarily her view of us.



Molas depicting things that are not a part of Cuna culture, but rather of our culture are called acculturation design molas.



This was a nineteenth century woodcut of some inventor's dream. Some Cuna woman found a picture of it, and let her imagination run free.



The church, as mentioned, has had a great effect on mola design.



These are not the Three Stooges, they are three candidates for public office, their faces no doubt taken from some campaign poster.



These have been copied from cartoons which have appeared in Panamanian newspapers. They don't express the sentiments of the Cuna, who seldom become involved in any political activity outside the tribe.



Camelot. The Kennedy legend is spread to the remotest corners of the earth.



Sporting events offer good subject matter for molas.



Boxing is a popular sport in Panama, and some of the Cuna have become boxers and have fought in local tournaments.



Among the most fertile fields of subject matter is advertising. This needle pack picture would be as familiar to a mola maker as Johnny Walker is to a bartender.



Each of these interpretations gives new life to someone's trademark or logo.



Imagine trying to interpret what this mola depicts without having seen the model. What may seem very symbolic and esoteric can turn out to be a common thing.



Which is the art? Is the mola merely a crude imitation of the original? Some people might suggest that the mola is the art, and the original merely a commercial graphics job.



Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she is an illustrator. Here is a familiar scene from the story of Doctor Dolittle.



Is it art? Or is it merely ethnic handicraft? Is it folk art? Are they "folk" rather than artists because they have no social security numbers? Is it naive art? Are these women artistically naive because they are not schooled in modern European oil painting; and couldn't tell a Modiglianni from a McDonald Burger?

In fact, the woman who made this mola likely spent more time learning the techniques of her art than the painter. Her training begins at five or six, and she devotes more of her life to it than our own children spend in school. It will be among the major activities of her life.

Another significant fact about these women as artists -- the Cuna may be the only culture on earth in which the pictoral art is dominated by women.



In recent years there has been a controversy over what have been called "tourist molas". During the 1960's and early 70's, the prevailing opinion among mola collectors was that the Cuna had been miseducated by well-wishing social workers and missionaries to create low-grade mass-produced molas for the tourist junk trade, and that they were no longer taking the time to create the great molas like their grandmothers made.

For a time, it looked like there was some truth to it, and it is quite true that the Cuna did crank out thousands, tens of thousands of crude and rudimentary molas. It's understandable -- they can equate time and money as well as anyone else, and they found many of our products valuable enough to warrant turning out whatever the market would buy. The promoters tried turning molas into pillows and purses, and the like, but somehow the spirit seemed to be lacking.

Apparently the Cuna have felt this lack also, and all the recent reports from the San Blas Islands indicate that the quality of molas is not becoming poorer, but in some cases much better. The style is changing, but that is part of mola art.



As a result of this retention of the artistic purity of the Mola, we find them not in the curio shops, but in the museums and galleries.



The evidence indicates that they are not losing their vision or their skill to new technology, but are using it to expand their capabilities, becoming successfully less niave, as it were.

Let's not forget that the cloth they use, the needles, the scissors, and in fact, the blouse itself are all technological imports which they have assimilated and are using to express themselves.

There is every reason to believe that if these people also decide to assimilate loom weaving or computer textile design, that their own unique vision, their own artistry will come through.



One last fact about these beautiful and talented people warrants mentioning. Molas are not signed, and the Cuna do not make celebrities of individual mola makers. Though each mola is an individual statement, the genius of the design is a collective thing. The women maintain an ever-changing continuity of style, a collective vision within which the independent creative spirit can flourish.

In the realm of art, they are perhaps one of the most important groups of women, one of the most important groups of artists in the world -- the Mola Makers of San Blas.

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