THE ART OF BEING KUNA

The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama, is a major traveling exhibition that presents a view of the Kuna culture as seen through its expressive arts: the Kuna's central concern for form and beauty in everyday life, narratives, rituals, healing, and visual arts such as Kuna women's molas (textiles). The Kuna people live on the San Blas islands and Atlantic coastline of Panama. The exhibit showcases Kuna culture through a wide range of objects including baskets, wooden objects, molas, and gold jewelry. Large-scale photo panels with supportive descriptive panels and visual documentation are depicted in an environment suggestive of a Kuna village, and video stations add depth to the presentation.

A Kuna woman at the door of her home. Traditional Kuna dress includes a mola blouse, wraparound shirt and scarf made from imported fabric, gold nose ring and other gold jewelry, and arm and leg bands originally made from beads from Czechoslovakia. Photograph by Mari Lyn Salvador, 1998.

The Mola Coop, members of the Cooperative Productoras de Productos de Mola.
In the 1980s Kuna women formalized the Coop, which began as a Peace Corps project
in the 1960s. The Coop, owned and operated by Kuna women, now has over 1500 members
and two stores in Panama City and in Kuna Yala. Photograph by Mari Lyn Salvador, 1998.

Developed at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Art of Being Kuna represents a collaborative effort between Kuna cultural specialists and anthropologists including Dr. James Howe, MIT; Dr. Joel Sherzer, University of Texas; Dr. Mac Chapin, Center for the Support of Native Lands; Jorge Ventocilla, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama; and Dr. Mari Lyn Salvador. The project was 12 years in the planning and Dr. Salvador had the privilege of doing research in the collections of museums with historic molas in Goteborg, Sweden; Paris; Berlin; and Madrid as well as the Smithsonian Institution and the Heye Foundation collections now at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

Cacique Carlos Lopez, Balbina Denis, and Elvira Torres visit the National
Museum of the American Indian. Photograph by Mari Lyn Salvador.

Four Kuna experts joined Dr. Salvador in New York to document the entire Kuna collection at the NMAI. Their research of the earliest known molas forms the interpretation for the exhibition. After its initial showing at the Fowler Museum, this exhibition traveled to the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. The Art of Being Kuna is accompanied by a major publication of 400 pages with 450 plates (most in color) that is available at the Museum Store.

KUNA ARTS AND CULTURE

The Kuna are world-renowned for their molas, the colorful and richly decorated appliqué blouses made by Kuna women. These intricate textiles exemplify the aesthetic strengths found in Kuna expressive culture and act as a lens through which Kuna values are revealed. Kuna identity, however, comprises a remarkably wide range of distinctive visual and verbal modes of expression, all informed by a dynamic and sophisticated system of aesthetic values.

In addition to producing vibrant molas, the Kuna expressive culture includes intricately woven baskets and hammocks, and objects of utilitarian beauty such as wooden utensils, stools, and calabashes. A concern for artistic form guides Kuna language, politics, clothing style, etiquette and hospitality, ritual, and musical performance. Each task is carried out with creativity and aesthetic discernment. The mola serves as a unifying element throughout the exhibition. Kuna women illustrate thought, all aspects of their culture, and elements from outside their culture in their molas.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

To enhance our celebration, maximize the impact of these dynamic exhibits, and build relationships between the people of San Diego and Panama, the museum is planning many educational programs for school children and visitors to the exhibits. These programs will bring school groups from every district in San Diego County to the exhibits. Also, educational "The People of Panama Resource Kits," containing a PowerPoint program of photographs and background information on the indigenous people of Panama, will be on loan to local schools. The kits will also contain molas in several stages of production, as well as completed molas. Other items in the kit will include musical and household artifacts, a map, and an activity book of standards-related activities. Please contact the museum for additional information.

SCHOLARSHIPS

To make our programming for the Panama exhibits available to all area students, scholarships will be available to San Diego County schools for reduced or free admission and transportation to the Museum for guided or self-guided tours in the fall. Representatives for cross-border students and home-schooled families may apply for reduced or free admission as well. Please contact Kathleen Hamilton in the Education Department (khamilton@museumofman.org) for further information.

Sponsored by:
	The Price Family Fund II and the Hervey Family Fund of The San Diego Foundation
	The Parker Foundation
	Semusa-Panama
	Thomas Ackerman Foundation
	City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
	County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program