Embroidery: Farming Village Life and the War Experience |
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EF1: This tapestry portrays the Secret War in Laos, during the Vietnam War Era. The people pictured are Green Hmong. At the top left, a village is being bombarded by aircraft with a chemical agent called T-2 Mycotoxin, commonly known as Yellow Rain. This chemical is believed to have caused illness among many Hmong, including swelling in children’s bellies. The villagers fled to the jungle and lived in the mountainous region around Phou Bia, the tallest mountain in Laos. They carried what they could with them, and lived in the jungle with very little food. In the upper right, two people are digging up wild yams, others are gathering tree bark and leaves for food. They used banana leaves to build shelters from the weather. People with money purchased inner tubes and floating devices to cross the Mekong River to Thailand. A man is seen blowing into an inner tube at the right center. Some people paid Lao or Thai merchants to take them across the river by boat. Poor people made bamboo rafts or banana trunk floats to cross the river. On the other side of the river, a group of Hmong are being approached by Thai police officers for questioning. Sometimes Hmong refugees were robbed and female refugees raped before they were brought into the refugee camp. The barrack building portrays Ban Vinai Refugee Camp where thousands of Hmong refugees lived between the mid-1970s and 1992. The technique used for the piece involved surface stitching, sewn with cotton thread on a blue cotton cloth. There is no border for this piece.
By an unknown artist, 1980s-1990s, 46x54 cm |
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EF2: This is a Hmong embroidery story cloth. On the upper left corner is a scene of the Hmong in China. They were chased off by the Qing soldiers. During this time, many Hmong
As they lived in Laos, life was peaceful until the French colonial era, and then the Vietnam War. On the upper right hand corner, Long Cheng is depicted. It is located in Xieng Khouang province, Laos. It was a military base established with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It served as a town for many Hmong and Lao people. Long Cheng became one of the most well known places among the Hmong from Laos. Below is Vientiane, the national capital of Laos. The Patuxai Arch depicted on this tapestry was built to commemorate the struggle for Independence from France. Even though the Patuxai looks like French architecture, the elements of this Lao monument are inspired by Lao designs.
At the bottom, the Hmong refugee experience is depicted. Because of the Vietnam War, the Hmong fled across the Mekong River and became refugees in the refugee camps in Thailand. They eventually had an opportunity to go to third countries from the airport in Bangkok.
By an unknown artist, 1980s-1990s, 85x125 cm |
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EF3: On this tapestry are depicted the Striped Hmong, also known as the Sam Neua Hmong, from northeastern Laos. They are performing daily activities, such as walking on a path from a village to their farm. After early morning chores and breakfast, they must walk through the forest and over mountains to get to their fields where they spend a few days planting, tending, or harvesting crops. Ripe fruit such as papaya and pineapples are depicted at the top right. Other crops include chili peppers, rice, cucumbers, and a banana tree. The method utilized to create this piece involved surface stitching on a gray cloth while incorporating borders of tan and white.
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EF4: This piece displays the daily activities in a village, Green Hmong are shown on their way to or from farms. In the upper left, a man is feeding chickens, a chore done every morning after sunrise. Hmong raised domestic animals for food consumption and for special occasions like wedding and ritual sacrifices. At left center, a man and woman are using a mill stone to grind maize (corn) and rice to feed their animals, as well as to make cakes and noodles.
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EF5: It is typically believed that only Hmong women sew paj ntaub, but this is not the case.
Illustrated by Kong Thao, Thailand, 1999, 34x34 cm |
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EF6: This tapestry depicts a farming scene. On the upper right, the men are using poles to poke holes in the ground, while the women drop rice seeds into them. The Hmong in Laos planted their crops on mountain slopes. Rice planting usually occurred in May, with extended family members and neighbors helping each other, and again with the November harvesting as seen in the lower left. Normally, planting and harvesting rice did not occur at the same time. In the lower left a woman is using a sickle to harvest rice while others pick corn and dig cassava, lower right.
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EF7: This story cloth tells of the Hmong New Year celebration where many festivities take place at home and in the fields around the village. At bottom right, a family and relatives feast as they welcome the new year, going from house to house in the village. The lwm sub ceremony is celebrated on the left in the second section. An elder blesses the villagers as they walk clockwise three times and counterclockwise three times, leaving bad luck and misfortune behind as they welcome the New Year filled with prosperity, good fortune, and health.
Early on the first day, ncuav (rice cakes) are made by pounding glutinous rice, commonly called sticky rice, with wooden hammer-like tools. The mashed rice is then formed into patties and individually wrapped in banana leaves. These rice cakes are eaten for several days or weeks after the celebration is over. Another popular event is pov pob (ball tossing), when young people, thinking about marriage, form two lines and toss the courtship balls back and forth throughout the New Year days, flirting and singing folk songs to prospective spouses. In the fourth section right, a young man and his relative take a young woman to his house to be his wife, as is the custom in Hmong marriage. There are other popular activities such as horse riding, bull fighting, top spinning, and shooting crossbows during the Hmong New Year.
By an unknown artist, 1980s-1990s, 78x86 cm |
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EF8: It is unusual to see Hmong figures and wild animals together such as those pictured in this forest scene. The people shown in this tapestry are hunting with Hmong crossbows and rifles. After farming season when the men have nothing to do, they go hunting together in the forest, or sometimes accompany their spouse. The women carry bamboo baskets in search of wild yams as well as bamboo shoots, and scavenge for other edible plants and fruit. Hunters usually go hunting for a few days, and return to their village with fresh deer, antelope, wild boar, monkey, and gibbon meat, as well as quail and pheasants. The needlework in the piece was constructed utilizing darning or surface stitching, as well as running stitches. Appliqué work was used for the frame, as seen on the mountain motifs represented by the triangles. |
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EF9: This tapestry depicts the Hmong Napho community that resided in Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist temple located two hours from Bangkok, Thailand. The Hmong called this place Qhov Tsua, which refers to a cave. After Ban Vinai, Chiang Kham, and Napho refugee camps closed, many refugees fled to this temple. There is a story behind why the Hmong fled to this location. There was a Buddhist nun known as Mae Chee Boonruen who founded the temple. She was commonly known to the Hmong as Niam Loom Mej. Some Hmong people believed she was an avatar of a Hmong goddess. Even though her earthly body form was Thai, spiritually she was perceived by many to be Hmong. She allowed the Hmong to stay at the temple after the Vietnam War era in the 1970s. She eventually died, and her body became mummified. Before her death, she appointed a Buddhist monk to be the head of the temple. The Hmong called him Loom Phoj. Like the Buddhist nun, the Buddhist monk treated the Hmong people well and allowed them to stay at the temple. As depicted on the tapestry, Loom Phoj is blessing the Hmong people as they bow to him. In 2004, Hmong refugees residing in Wat Tham Krabok finally had an opportunity to leave Thailand. Many decided to immigrate and reunite with loved ones in the United States, as well as Australia. Most of these refugees chose to resettle in the states of Minnesota, California, and Wisconsin. The embroidery techniques used for this piece included darning or surface stitching. Appliqué work was used to create the frame with a mountain motif, along with white and blue borders.
Sold by Khoua Thao, Thailand, 1998, 52x58 cm
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EF10: There are two interpretations of this tapestry. One is that it is depicting the Hmong people of Laos in recent decades. These Hmong adapted to a lifestyle similar to the ethnic Lao people, including their farming and house construction methods as well as clothes.
By Tong Vang, Laos, 2010, 29x27 cm |
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