1 10 25 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/39fab2c8790db1973054efa44a869189.jpg d130d86d7c89fba5888400339b3fd093 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Lent by Sherry Thorup Accession Number L2016.16.38 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Catalogue Entry Catalogue entry for the object The dulemola panel at right features the geometry of four double spirals (called biru birut) that ultimately refers to the eight levels of the Guna universe. It only has two layers of cloth, which is characteristic of the older “grandmother” compositions, though these clearly continue to be made today. Yet this example introduces an innovation: the bottom cloth is polka dotted rather than the expected solid color. When the maroon top cloth is pierced—to an impressive degree and with great precision—to form the spirals, glimpses of the tiny dots come and go for the viewer. This subtle dynamism takes advantage of the patterns available in machine-made cloth, drawing attention to the lower layer in a new way. Guna blending of the traditional and the new takes many creative forms. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Geometric Patterns https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/d97c4f0428251c7fa7cd2359fd30ff38.jpg ca464f9771c6e2150d346856e832e8cc https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/5a6c01e5d3e2a711ef5cc91730577493.JPG d20c0931a7d173af1f25ea5ba3a25637 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/b436de90e5b52888d34d91f8e8aeefc2.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Lent by Sherry Thorup Accession Number L2016.16.2 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Scissors Description An account of the resource Guna blouse panels are made from machined cloth and commercial thread first introduced by missionaries and now widely available. However, the elaborately cut and sewn patterns are only possible using the sharp scissors the missionaries also brought with them. This dulemola celebrates the tool that it was made with, in a clever self-referential artistic gesture. While the Guna have long embraced new materials and tools, they also fundamentally transformed the quilting that the European women expected them to use scissors to make. In quilts, cut pieces are joined at their sides and sewn down on top of a backing textile, and decorative stitching unites the top and bottom cloth and the fluffy batting between them. Quilts often repurpose used clothing and function to keep sleeping people warm in cold climates. However, the Guna live in the tropics, where quantities of clothing and insulating bedding are unnecessary. Therefore, the basic European assumptions of what piecework would look like and how it should function were not embraced and a wholly new textile art form was born by cutting through the imported cloth in remarkable ways. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/49919faf894406ca0ce8a9fa643971c4.jpg 840ce481ac55b62349231ec20d93c422 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/8590caa1cbb0e93b1d6026ce171562db.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Lent by Sherry Thorup Accession Number L2016.33.1 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Hummingbirds and Flowers Description An account of the resource A more recent blouse panel combines the long-practiced technique of cut, folded, and sewn patterning with actual appliqué, the sewing of additional shapes on top. The lozenge shapes are made in the traditional way, cutting through and folding back to reveal the colored layers below. However, the three hummingbirds feeding from flowers are largely appliqué, pieces of cloth sewn on top; the overlapping of the ends of the spread tail feathers make this clear. A few touches of embroidery delineate the flowers' stamens (vertical lines with balls at the ends) and the tiny bird feathers. The dulemola is a constantly evolving art form, yet new choices may yet express age-old values; the exploration of different layers still pervades Guna textile aesthetics. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/e7fc132e2df98af34d86c7532dc113b7.jpg 53cb7eae5b20ba5f5a90cc33a35a7fcb https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/d82dbab678bc3f73eea21de6b333d44d.wav c486bed083da0d8ff984a4bbada4ac8d https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/6c55f9d379e64b776e803334f29afe6b.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Lent by Sherry Thorup Accession Number L2016.16.20 Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Dogs in Sunglasses Scene Description An account of the resource Pure whimsy and lighthearted humor characterize some contemporary dulemolaguna, such as this one featuring two dogs wearing sunglasses and perhaps carrying purses. The tropical flower between them and the lozenge-shaped cutouts in the background are familiar Guna elements. The patterning of the purses with geometric handles atop branching square spirals is typical as well. However, the extremely bright colors betray the ever-changing Guna dulemola textile style as it incorporates cloth made with synthetic dyes currently available in the global marketplace. Certainly, the silly subject of anthropomorphized dogs is meant to appeal to a certain type of tourist. Yet mirror image, dual compositions are a common Guna artistic choice, so this dulemola is not completely out of line with tradition. Indeed, the possibility of humans turning into animals, and vice versa, within a spiritual experience is a basic assumption of the Guna’s shamanic religion. Thus, even shopping dogs can be folded into the aesthetic system of indigenous Guna artists in clever and appealing ways. This scene may mock tourists as being lowly dogs, as well. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/9646fbc1415f0b4997c07822723359c6.jpg e3a80e3c58fe45dd37ffbcf7dbde4cb9 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/de23ec0b42126c07feb8844c72da1d39.m4v 0b6e47c032cb51592593a149b4b1a245 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/5b8c4de73f815b9e86ce0e78a709d4eb.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Anonymous loan Accession Number L2014.18.1 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with the Trix™ Cereal Rabbit Description An account of the resource Commercial products, such as the Trix™ cereal rabbit mascot which debuted in 1959, have crept into contemporary dulemola creativity. The icon of this sugary children’s cereal was a trickster figure always trying to steal the cereal from children and hence the well-known tag line: “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” In one 1970s commercial, the rabbit dresses up as a stereotypical “Indian” to try and get cereal from the children, which would be considered inappropriate, and even racist, today (see <a href="/exhibits/show/essays/engagingnew">Engaging the New</a>). If this unknown dulemola artist knew of that, making the Trix™ rabbit in an indigenous blouse panel might be a way of striking aback against rampant prejudice. If not, it was simply a piece of global popular culture that the artist found intriguing; however, in many Native American cultures rabbit figures are tricksters, like coyotes. Though portrayed as basically lazy and small, Rabbit defeats bigger and fiercer opponents using his wits (Davis and DeMello 2003, 155); thus, portraying a Western trickster rabbit could hide a subversive message about indigenous peoples outsmarting their overlords. In any case, the rabbit is accurately rendered with its telltale oversized, floppy ears, popping eyes, and wide smile. However, it is not shown in in its usual white coloration, and the background slits are cut through its body, making it nearly transparent, as in so many Guna dulemolaguna. In and around its body are flowers or starfish, not found on the cereal box, but often appearing in Guna textiles that celebrate the tropical environment in which they are made. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/fd42b0552aeef81052d2cbbf6dcaffed.jpg ea7dde87c60268e9ff961610626b5646 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/2e5e8347230a4fbd2c56ee8d0f9a5fa1.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date Early 21st century Materials Cotton Credit Line Museum purchase Accession Number 2013.42.1 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Bruce M. White, 2014 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Figures in Santa Hats Description An account of the resource Like other panels that take on “global” themes but give them definite Guna twists (see examples <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/67">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/70">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/2">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/3">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/68">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/71">here</a>, <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/73">here</a>, and <a href="http://34.193.12.70/items/show/74">here</a>), especially related to Christianity, the very recent example at left juxtaposes tropical flowers and people in Santa Claus hats. The faces are definitely “white,” reflecting those that brought Christianity/Santa ideas to indigenous Central America. In a Western, illusionistic touch, the eyes and other features are shown in a kind of three-quarter view. Ancient/traditional American artistic systems do not include such partial views of faces, so this is a concession to non-Native aesthetics. The cut-outs that outline the beautiful, colorful flowers evidence a very talented textile artist and many different colors of patches inserted between the maroon upper cloth and the pink lowermost one. The tiny triangular background dots are a more recent type of elaboration, as well. Seamless blending of current global culture and indigenous flora, plus novel virtuoso flourishes, characterize 21st century dulemola arts. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/e79a187965fa219b8f9a9eb6d550cc0f.jpg 3dbd6cd7f1a6adde7b94da55a16ec040 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/a9196099cb8663ee59c9bbf09580b627.jpg ab545ae295797bf499a368c96c3ea645 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date Late 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Anonymous loan Accession Number L2016.23.2 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Madonna and Child Description An account of the resource This Guna blouse panel takes on a Christian subject: the Madonna and Child. She is identified by her cross necklace, which is embroidered like her intricate veil and the patterns on her clothes. The use of embroidery began in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The bright pink chosen by the artist for the figures’ skin tone further suggests a reference to the people who brought Christianity to the Americas. However, the Madonna's long black hair is ambiguous; in the biblical tradition women were not to cut their long black hair. Young Guna women wear their jet black hair long; mature women cut theirs short with bangs. Nestled amongst oversized tropical flowers and tall plants, the scene has been reset in a truly Central American context. This composition also has some Western touches, such as the way in which the flower on the left seems to overlap the border. Illusionistic elements, even the way that the two arms of the Madonna overlap, are basically foreign to the indigenous aesthetic but have entered the Guna artistic vocabulary through exposure to other art styles. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/b5e53a376a426292643433d785c13559.jpg c939f477206517c64eac489fbd05715c https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/385c146ae53350947ee9f69ed39c8e21.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/38e5aada695413e6094bba195fea869f.wav 2621c5b6591f06ce1c5d8735d03ab7a6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 20th century Materials Cotton Credit Line Lent by Sherry Thorup Accession Number L2016.16.46 Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Scene of Churches Description An account of the resource The dulemola panel features two churches, a subject that is obviously not “traditional” since the Guna religion was and continues to be shamanic and nature-based. Yet, according to dulemola artists, equal-armed cross shapes stand for the top lashed cross-bars of local thatch structures called palapas. Indeed, the two on the church roofs take the symmetrical cross shape (a universal symbol representing the World Tree and the four directions) and occupy the same relative position as in a palapa. Below them, however, are Christian crosses that are characteristically longer in the vertical direction. Thus, these four crosses, perhaps further alluding to the four cosmic directions, subtly combine indigenous and imposed religious symbols. The Guna are familiar with the various missionary groups who first entered Panamá as early as 1699, but did not take hold until the 19th and 20th centuries. The Panama Canal Zone, being American territory for nearly a century, increased the influx of American missionaries of all denominations. By the 1950’s the Guna were a focus of the Southern Baptist Home Mission and today Mormons are a common sight in the San Blas Islands. The Guna maintain a basic tolerance for various religions, though their own religious practices are still paramount. Indeed, what may be an abstract tree between the two churches could refer to the Guna traditional orientation toward the spiritually alive Earth as more central than the churches introduced by outsiders. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/ac1eb2a27abb005b22d2aedfa33fd080.jpg f7e50f7f1b63d785ae3fcbf4aa3e438c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date 1990s Materials Cotton Credit Line Anonymous gift Accession Number 2003.40.192 Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Blouse with the Panamanian Flag Description An account of the resource While Americans associate red, white, blue, and stars with the U.S. flag, these colors and symbols are also characteristic of the Panamanian flag. This is not a coincidence, since Panamá’s flag designer consciously honored the United States for helping them achieve independence from Colombia in 1903. In this Guna woman’s blouse the sleeves and yoke area feature stars and areas of solid blue (in the Panamanian flag this stands for the liberal party), solid red (for the conservatives), and white areas (for peaceful relations between the two). It is interesting, however, that an indigenous woman would wear the country’s flag, given that the relations between the Native populations and governments since the Europeans first invaded the Americas have been anything but positive. Indeed, the Panamanian government and the Guna were often in conflict; again, it was the United States who aided the Guna in achieving semi-autonomy from Panamá in 1938. In the mid 1990’s, around the time this blouse was made, the Guna were also officially recognized by the Panamanian government, perhaps the reason for this blouse’s expression of loyalty. Guna women can hold the rank of chief, as well as men, so a woman expressing her political beliefs in her dress is understandable. https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/f560930ff48530e5e420506914e76093.jpg 95079f4f3c9abec3a70340fc297593aa https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/b1be71a23861fd86de8d99aa7e480aad.wav f5d62e0116c84906c0d04357c3cf8171 https://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/files/original/20935649240e54185b93477acf5d30ad.wav c486bed083da0d8ff984a4bbada4ac8d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Modern Panama Threads of Time Item This item type contains fields for the works in the Threads of Time exhibition. Geographic Area Central America, Guna Yala (San Blas Islands/North Coast of Panamá) Culture Guna Date Early 21st century Materials Cotton Credit Line Anonymous loan Accession Number L2016.10.3 Artist Malvita (Guna) Exhibition Checklist Number This number will sort the collections. 314A Photo Credit Photo by Michael McKelvey, 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dulemola (Blouse Panel) with Panama Canal and Bridge of the Americas Description An account of the resource The dulemola at left celebrates the famed Panama Canal that joined Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, allowing ships and cargo to move much more efficiently around the planet. The canal actually rejoined the oceans that had long ago been one body of water, until the volcanoes in southern Central America connected to form a solid landmass, changing the global climate. The “Panama Effect” meant that cold water and winds circulated differently around the Atlantic, which became saltier, among many other phenomena. This isthmus also became a land bridge for animals from bears to llamas that migrated between North and South America. In this blouse panel the ship on the blue waters is shown entering the Pacific end of the canal under a bridge, the Puente de las Américas, or Bridge of the Americas. The artist has added local seabirds and tropical foliage, but most interestingly fills in the available “sky” with the traditional spiral patterns of the “grandmother” dulemolaguna (earlier, or more fundamental geometric compositions <a href="/items/show/55">here</a>, <a href="/items/show/4">here</a>, <a href="/items/show/56">here</a>, and <a href="/items/show/57">here</a>). This creative composition encapsulates the wonderful layering of modern and traditional imagery that exists in Guna dulemolaguna.