The Cuna Indians, a matriarchal society, live in the San Blas Archipelago on the Atlantic side of Panama. Cuna women (and albino men who cannot work in the sun) have sewn molas since the second half of the 19th century. The art of mola-making arose from the Cuna Indian migration and the merging with non-Cuna peoples.

"It could never have developed," writes collection manager Sara Oka, "without the cotton cloth, needles, thread and scissors acquired by trade from the ships that bartered for coconuts during the 19th century."

The images and themes on these stunning cloths are a synthesis of the Cuna traditional culture and the modern technological world. Typically handed from generation to generation, the molas depict celestial images, nose rings, rattles, animals, mythic creatures, botanicals, humans, sea life, birds, geometric shapes and other symbols.

A good mola is a source of status among Cuna women with its quality determined by the number of layers, fineness of stitching, evenness and width of the cutouts, addition of details such as borders, embroidery and the general artistic merit of the design and color combinations. Geometric molas, developed from ancient body painting designs, are the most traditional and very maze-like.