Balboa Panama Currency

Balboa Panama Currency

Balboa Panama Currency

An unusual Panamanian molas (cloth sculpture) is tied to the overthrow of Chile's Salvadore Allende in 1973, and a coup d'etat by a brutal, repressive junta. This handmade molas, made in Panama by a Native American Kuna woman, is unusual because it uses so many different colors, its owner said in an interview..

"Sometimes the animal looks to me like a bird of prey; sometimes, a predatory cat," said James Merken of Concord, NH, who owns the molas. "Either way, she’s a goddess, maybe The Goddess that Joseph Campbell said is central to so many traditional tribal cultures and religions."

She has what appears to be a head, feet, wing, tail, heart, and rib cage. The tail, hind leg, rear hip, rib cage, and heart outside the chest seem catlike. The wing, head, topknot, front leg and foot are bird-like, Merken said.