Mola

モラ / late 19th century– / Technique / Textile Traditions

Guna women in Panama make reverse appliqué. Layers of colored cloth are cut back and stitched down until every contour ripples in several lines, printmaking in fabric that is worn daily as the panels of a blouse.

Mola — Guna mola (CC0)
Guna mola (CC0) · CC0
Mola — Mola blouse panel (CC0)
Mola blouse panel (CC0) · CC0
Mola — Guna woman wearing a mola (Panama) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 · © Allen Lubitz
Guna woman wearing a mola (Panama) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 · CC BY 4.0 · © Allen Lubitz

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Layered reverse appliqué
  • Multiple contour lines
  • Maze-like ground filling
  • Animals and geometry

Best used for

  • Building an image in cloth where contour thickness itself does the work
  • Setting imagery into a garment meant to be worn every day

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Dictionary entry

Type
Run several contours around the figure at even spacing
Composition
Center the main figure and fill the leftover ground with maze-like slits
Material
Stack colored cloths, cut down from the top, turn the edges and stitch
Caution
Fewer layers and a single contour stop the color from emerging through the cuts, and the panel goes flat.
Further study
Guna Yala autonomy / modern imagery entering molas / the double life of wearing and collecting

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