SchoolArts - October 2007

Two couples toss a ball back and forth—a courtship game—while wedding preparations are discussed and two men play the traditional mouth organ called qeej (pronounced “geng”). Photographs © Gordon Arkenberg.

Story cloths were produced in the Thai refugee camps, where they documented the war experience and escape across the Mekong River to Thailand, as well as Hmong lore and customs. The story cloths offered a means of retaining cultural identity and they certainly would have provided relief from the boredom of camp life as well as a small income.

The immigrant Hmong wish to continue their agricultural lifestyle and cultural traditions. The story cloths characterize their desire to depict a way of life but also to create a marketable product—an effort from a fourth-world cultural group to produce an item that will appeal

to the first world. As such, there are fewer depictions of fighting in Laos (although these cloths are highly prized by collectors), and more charming scenes of village life, customs, and myths. Ever-evolving, story cloths produced in the United

States have begun to incorporate elements of urban life.

Will the story

cloths replace Hmong traditional embroidery techniques, or will they create a market for the other textiles? Will the embroiderers find more lucrative jobs, or, as they age, will the tradition die out? As their children and grandchildren attend public schools, take part in activities outside the home and community,

and go to college, will they continue the Hmong embroidery tradition? The twenty-first century will hold many challenges for the Hmong, their lifestyle, stories, and traditions so vividly captured in the story cloths.