Textile Art Alliance Virtual Tour: “Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá”

Susan E. Bergh, Chair of the Art of Africa and the Americas and Curator of Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art, will give a virtual tour of Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá, currently on view in the Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Textile Gallery through January 9, 2022. The mola is a key component of traditional dress among the Indigenous Guna (formerly Kuna) women of Panamá. Guna women have been sewing mola blouses since the turn of the 20th century, and they have become powerful symbols of Guna culture and identity. This exhibition presents both individual mola panels and complete mola blouses from the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art and Denison University in Granville, Ohio. The molas on display span distinct periods of Guna history, from the era of the 1925 revolution to the 1980s.

Textile Art Alliance members will receive a digital invitation. This event will be hosted on Microsoft Teams; the event link and instructions will be provided to those who RSVP.

To join the Textile Art Alliance or to learn more, please click here.