Guna Mola. Denison Museum Collection. Gift of Clyde Keeler
A year-long exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art will feature 19 molas from Denison Museum’s Guna collection.
The selected molas were donated by Dr. Clyde Keeler, a member of the Denison Class of 1923. Keeler was a geneticist studying albinism in the Guna people. He acquired a large collection of Guna material during his many research trips and donated most of his collection to Denison.
The exhibition opens August 22 with no closing date listed yet, titled “Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá.’’ The textiles gallery will examine a classic garment worn by the indigenous Guna (formerly Kuna) women of Panamá. Vibrantly colorful Mola blouses became powerful symbols of culture and identity worn during the 1925 revolution against ruling authorities, the museum said. The show will explore examples from the museum’s collection and from Denison University in Granville, from the era of the 1925 revolution to the 1980s.
