For the Kuna culture, molas are both a work of art and a historical narrative.
Some cultures use pen and paper to record their histories.
Others pass down oral stories to their children. However, the Kuna people ply needle and thread. In a world where women learn to sew and men are taught to weave baskets, fabricated mola blouses serve as the most vivid and reliable sources of Kuna heritage. Living on small islands that stand offshore from the Atlantic coast of Panama, the Kuna revolve their daily life around a philosophy that the tangible world depends on the spiritual well-being of Earth. One part of that is through the molas that they wear which have changed remarkably over the years.