Panama

- Darien National Park

September, 1999

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Map of Panama
The Emberá of this region paint themselves in times of festival. Using the dye squeezed from the cooked pulp of a fruit called jagua, they paint their arms, legs, body and face in a combination of lines and solid areas. Generally the lower part of the face, neck and upper breast are solid, as well as the elbow, wrist and often entire leg. The body (from lower breast and shoulder to hips), biceps and upper forearm are painted with patterns of straight or curved lines. The paint is applied using a thin stick, usually cut from bamboo, for drawing lines, or the hand for large, solid areas.
Ladies grating Jagua

Grating Jagua - the fruit that contains the dye that the indigenous people use to paint their face and bodies. After grating, a little water is added, and the (green) pulp heated, which turns it black (the colour is actually an extremely dark blue). To make the paint strong and lasting, a sprinkling of ash is mixed at the time of cooking.

Painting with a thin stick

A thin stick cut from palm wood is used to apply the paint, although they use their hands to spread large areas like the neck, chest, arms and legs.

Squeezing the black ink from the jagua pulp

After cooking and cooling the jagua, the pulp is squeezed to extract the black juice.

Me having a go at painting

I had a go at painting Francia. My lines didn't end up as smooth as theirs, and I often left dribble streaks where I lingered too long (can you blame me for lingering).

Me getting painted up

They insisted that I get painted as well.

Close-up of Betzaida

A particular trend in painting the face is to not paint the lips except for a single line through the middle of the top lip, being a continuation of the edge of the painted area on the cheeks.

Close-up of Betzaida

They also use the ink as a hair dye to get a really jet-black colour. Notice that her hair has a bluish tinge to it.

Half body portrait of Betzaida

Betzaida all painted up.

Nan loves this one.

Donning adornments

The dye darkens on the skin after several hours. So we waited unti

Notice: Last portion of page lost. Sorry about that, will rectify when I get chance.