# Guna Mola

> The reverse-appliqué blouse panels of Guna women in Panama, made by cutting through two to seven stacked layers of cotton so that every shape is ringed by echoing bands of the colours beneath. Fields are packed with filler slits, sawtooth edges and mazes. The imagery runs from abstract ancestral designs and animals to Bible stories, cartoon characters, brand logos and party slogans, all redrawn in the same contour-echo idiom.

- Period: 1900–present
- Where: Latin America & Caribbean
- Origin: Guna Yala (formerly the San Blas archipelago), Caribbean coast of Panama
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Mola, Kuna mola (pre-2010 spelling), Guna reverse appliqué
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/guna-mola/

## Use it with care

The mola is the everyday and ceremonial dress of Guna women and an emblem of Guna identity and autonomy, defended in the 1925 revolution against a Panamanian ban on Guna dress; many motifs draw on Guna cosmology and oral history, and early sergan designs have been studied and reclaimed by Guna representatives. Treat it as a community's living dress, not a decorative print: buy or commission molas from Guna makers and cooperatives, credit them, keep paired panels together, and do not print imitation 'mola' patterns on merchandise. In Panama, Law 20 of 2000 protects Guna dress as collective intellectual property and bars its industrial reproduction, in whole or in part, without official authorisation and the prior consent of the Guna general congresses.

## How it works

- Cut the shape out of the top colour and let the layers beneath show as concentric echo bands, so every contour becomes a multiple outline.
- Fill all remaining ground with cut slits, sawtooth edges, maze lines or appliquéd triangles (das-das, ada-ada, bisu-bisu, wawa-naled) so no area stays empty.
- Set saturated reds and oranges against black or navy edge to edge, inlaying patches of other colours for full polychrome.
- Make panels as front-and-back pairs that answer each other without mirroring exactly.
- Absorb any image, from ancestral designs to logos, cartoons and party slogans, by redrawing it entirely in the contour-echo idiom.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (occasional)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic)
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Hard offset shadow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (defining)
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (characteristic)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (defining)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (occasional)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)

Avoids: Gradients, Generous white space, Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Straight photography, Ornament-free, Pastel

Palette: #c8262e, #ee7a1f, #121212, #1f2a5c, #f2c12e, #2e8b4a

Typefaces: Letters cut through the cloth layers and outlined by echo bands, as in political and lettered mola panels, Brand wordmarks and cartoon lettering redrawn in reverse appliqué

Known for: Labyrinth and Letters mola panels (1920s–1930s), Cleveland Museum of Art, 'Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá'; Bullwinkle J. Moose mola panel (c. 1960s) and Santa Claus mola pair (c. 1986), Cleveland Museum of Art; Liberal Party political mola panels (mid-1980s), Cleveland Museum of Art; RCA Victor logo mola panel, RISD Museum

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Alike in its design choices: [Indian Pop-Kitsch Design (Desi Kitsch)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/indian-kitsch.md) (1997–present), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ndebele Geometric Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ndebele-painting.md) (1940–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Paper-Cut (Jianzhi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-paper-cut.md) (c. 500–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [African Wax & Fancy Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/wax-print.md) (1880–present), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mithila (Madhubani) Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mithila-painting.md) (c. 1350–present), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kanga (Swahili Message Cloth)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kanga.md) (1886–present), 66% alike

## Real works

- [Flower, Birds, and Profile Animal Mola Panel](https://clevelandart.org/art/2021.154): Guna woman artist (unrecorded), 1900s, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Birds and Fish Mola Panels (Pair)](https://clevelandart.org/art/2021.155): Guna woman artist (unrecorded), 1900s, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Mola Panel ('Partido Laborista Agrario')](https://clevelandart.org/art/1965.192): Guna woman artist (unrecorded), mid-1900s (acquired 1965), The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Mola Panel (turtle)](https://clevelandart.org/art/1965.191): Guna woman artist (unrecorded), mid-1900s (acquired 1965), The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Labyrinth Mola Panel](https://clevelandart.org/art/2021.153): Guna woman artist (unrecorded), before 1960, The Cleveland Museum of Art

## Sources

- Cleveland Museum of Art, 'Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá': https://www.clevelandart.org/articles/fashioning-identity-mola-textiles-panama
- Wikipedia: Mola (art form); Guna people
- Panama, Ley 20 de 26 de junio de 2000, régimen especial de propiedad intelectual sobre los derechos colectivos de los pueblos indígenas (arts. 3 and 20): https://panama.justia.com/federales/leyes/20-de-2000-jun-27-2000/gdoc/

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Guna Mola”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/guna-mola/