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Guna aesthetic masterfully balances maze-like linear designs with figuration. The image of a mother feeding her baby bird is barely distinguishable from the spiraling black and red forms. However, larger areas of black for the birds' heads and the…

The fantastical multi-headed snakes take their place among the many subjects of Guna dulemolaguna that relate to Nature, but not in direct imitation. The undulating and interlocking lines of orange and red create a sense of snake bodies without…

Multiple cats can be seen in this ingenious dulemola composition — two smaller ones in profile nestled within the overall orange outline of a larger third one in the center. In another reading, the larger cat could be seen frontally with its tail…

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,…

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…

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…

This contemporary dulemola features multiple small pieces of cloth sandwiched between the black top cloth and the orange base one, maximizing the number of colors of the twenty-eight spiral patterns. They are subtly subdivided by the clever way the…

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…

The modern and contemporary women of the north coast and offshore islands of Panamá, the Guna (previously Cuna or Kuna), incorporated the European scissors and machine-made cloth in the 19th century to make a remarkable new “traditional” blouse. It…

Writing is incorporated into this contemporary cut-and-sewn dulemola made by the Guna people from the northern coast and Caribbean islands off Panamá. In the top center a version of the letters “IHS” can be seen, the monogram abbreviated from IHΣΟΥΣ,…