"Hmong embroidery has changed over the years. Hmong women adapted traditional motifs, and developed new styles of paj ntaub and crafts for commercial purposes, especially targeted to tourists and the Western market. From traditional textile decorations on clothes, they developed tapestries or story cloths. These tapestries first appeared in the 1980s when the Hmong people lived in the refugee camps. There was little opportunity to make money, so the women used their embroidery skills to earn income to support their families. On the story cloths, the women depicted the war experience through embroidery needlework, and similarly the village life that the Hmong were once familiar with when they lived in Laos."

Relying on surface embroidery, darning, running stitches, and appliqué techniques, these embroidered tapestries frequently feature animals in natural environments, and in combinations that, while not realistic, speak to these animals' importance to Hmong communities, either though diet, folklore, or spiritual significance. As noted in the exhibition when describing the piece below featuring hunting scenes, it is more atypical to see scenes in which animals and humans both appear outside of a village story context.


Sold by Khoua Thao, Thailand, 1998, 59x59 cm
Photo by Xai S. Lor, item at the Hmong Archives

In the case of this pa ndau or paj ntaub in our collections, there are so many things to see! Animals galore including boars, tigers, snails, peacocks, elephants, roosters, porcupines, snakes, a mongoose, birds, butterflies, crabs, bears, deer, antelope, gibbons, and the list goes on! Spot the tiger about to leap onto the couple collecting food; the mongoose facing off with a cobra; the bear trying to get some honey; or the couples standing by the decorated pavilion! There is more to see every time you look at it. With appliqué borders and a combination of surface embroidery and running stitches, this large, spectacular piece was intended for use as a wall hanging. After all, who wouldn't want to showcase all of this work in their home?