On the Jan. 30 post I mentioned we went to a mola exhibit and that Cathy was going to contact the curator of that show. Today we met Joyce Cheney at the Dogtooth Cafe for espresso and a chat about our mola.
I think she was fascinated about several things: 1. ours is old (early half of the 20th century), 2. it is large (must have been a very large woman to wear a blouse panel this big), and 3. has the first example of mola design of ric-rack on the dresses of the figures in the mola (difficult stitchery). Clearly ours was not made for the tourist trade. She pointed to several symbols which could either depict the spirit world or the mundane daily world of the Kuna or both depending on the thought of the woman who sewed it.
Molas are SO different from any craft or art I’ve experienced. We are going to order a book and dig even deeper.