Hmong textile art

Detail of a Hmong skirt with hemp cloth and batik elements

Most traditional forms of Hmong textiles were originally made with hand-spun hemp fabric.[1] Hemp, a species of cannabis, would be grown in small family or community farming plots until the plants were ready to be harvested and processed by Hmong women. To prepare the hemp for textile production, the plants would be dried in the sun and the fibrous outermost layer of the plant stalk would be stripped and separated into short lengths of fiber which would then be joined by hand-twisting the individual pieces to create a length of material appropriate for weaving. The coarse hemp fabric would then be produced by hand using a large wooden loom.[2]

Due to the diasporic history of the Hmong, the inconsistent legality of marijuana, and the labor-intensive nature of hemp cloth production, most modern and contemporary Hmong textiles typically use either ready-made hemp fabric or other, lighter commercial fabrics.[1]

Hmong carrying basket (RPA: kawm; Pahawh: 𖬎𖬰)

Hmong carrying baskets, known as kawm in the Hmong language RPA, were traditionally used to transport farming goods or as general containers and were hand-made using available materials like bamboo and rattan (a type of tree palm).[1] Basket weaving as a Hmong textile art is unique in that it is often produced by men. Although scholarship is limited in terms of Hmong basketry, examples can often be seen on display in folk art museums[3] or depicted in Hmong story cloths.

Batik-dyed cloth

Batik is a resist-dyeing technique in which hot wax is applied to cloth to create a pattern. The cloth is then dyed, typically using a single color (traditionally indigo), and the wax is removed. The waxed areas of the cloth resist the dye and the desired pattern remains.

Traditional Hmong batik is created using white hemp fabric and indigo dye. Aesthetically, Hmong batik is similar to other Hmong visual design and often features bold and contrasting geometric designs. This technique is utilized by Blue and Green Hmong to create skirts, baby carriers, and other typical Hmong textiles but is not seen amongst White Hmong.

Detail of Paj Ntaub

According to tradition, Hmong girls begin to learn the skills required to produce Paj Ntaub from their mother, grandmother, or older sister as early as three years old and go on to master hundreds of complex patterns. Skill in Paj Ntaub is highly valued in traditional Hmong culture and is used to signify desirable feminine traits like industriousness, creativity, and discipline and often plays a significant role in terms of courtship and marriage prospects. The creativity and skill of Paj Ntaub design was also traditionally linked with the embroiderer's own fertility.[5]

Although the labor intensive production and decoration of Hmong clothing and Paj Ntaub were the exclusive responsibility of women and older girls, this did not release them from other extensive responsibilities involving domestic chores, child care, and farm work. Because of this, sewing would often be done late into the night or during breaks between other responsibilities.[6]

Paj Ntaub funerary pillow

Paj Ntaub is often highly symbolic and the colorful, geometric designs function in a multitude of ways including as abstract representation, religious talisman, group identification, and many argue as a codified visual language.[5] Historically, the Hmong people were a primarily oral culture until the development of the Hmong RPA in the 1950s. According to popular legend however, the Hmong long ago had a powerful written language that was outlawed and destroyed by Chinese rulers and lost to time. As a result of this loss, the Hmong then codified their language and hid words as symbols in the Paj Ntaub designs sewn into the folds of skirts.[5][4] Although Paj Ntaub should not be understood strictly as a visual alphabet, many examples and interpretations of codified symbolism in Paj Ntaub exist.[4][7]

Hmong story cloth

By most accounts, the first story cloths began to appear in the 1970s and were produced by Hmong women in refugee camps in Thailand and Laos.[4] The precise origin of the story cloth and the rationale behind why Hmong women begin to deviate from the traditional geometric abstractions of Paj Ntaub is unclear. Scholarship has suggested several possible competing theories including the suggestion that refugee aid workers originally encouraged the idea of making embroidered pictures to sell, or that the story cloths developed organically out of exposure to English-language illustrated textbooks and Chinese pattern books, or that the story cloths were a means to remember and communicate traditions and experiences often relating directly to the Secret War and leaving Laos.[5][4] Regardless, some level of western influence is clearly present in the form of English text and it is widely known that the story cloths were sold to international audiences, often with the help of missionaries and refugee aid workers.[9]

Hmong story cloth detail

Although most story cloths seem to be created for international export and tourist consumption, many western scholars and young Hmong-Americans have found them to be highly valuable as teaching and learning devices and cultural artifacts.[5] Today, Hmong story cloths often serve as a primary source that connects the diasporic Hmong community to its past, preserves and evolves traditional elements of Paj Ntaub, and helps raise global awareness to the experience and treatment of the Hmong during the Secret War and beyond.[10]