Cloth as Community: Hmong Textiles in America

Hmong flower cloth (or paj ntaub) is one of the world’s great textile traditions and an excellent example of cloth as community. Despite its deep roots in Hmong culture, this complex art was not widely known outside Asia until after the Vietnam War, when Hmong refugees arrive in the United States.The works illustrate the profound relevance of textiles as infrastructure in the Hmong culture, an art form that shifted as it adapted to fit new realities. Now visitors to The Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council can experience the exhibition, Cloth as Community: Hmong Textiles in America, opening April 6, 2021. The exhibition features 28 textiles—flower cloths and embroidered story clothes—by those in the Hmong community.