WINONA, Minn. – An exhibit of Hmong flower cloth is open at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum through May 22. The art, called “paj ntaub,” is a textile tradition that exemplifies cloth as community. It has deep roots in Hmong culture, which was brought to the United State after the Vietnam War with Hmong refugee resettlement. The exhibition features 28 textiles — flower cloths and embroidered story clothes. The works reveal the radical upheaval that refugees experienced in crossing the Mekong River to Thailand. Many settled eventually in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
May Her Thao. “Large Aqua Cross Stitch.” 1985. Cotton.