Join us for our Feature Traveling Exhibit, included with regular museum admission!

Hmong flower cloth (or paj ntaub) is one of the world’s great textile. Despite its deep roots in Hmong culture, this complex art was not widely known outside Asia until after the Vietnam War. When Hmong refugees arrived in the United States in the 1970s, they brought with the needlework skills and cultural knowledge that had been passed down for generations.

Originally curated by Carl Magnuson, and updated by Geraldine Craig, Cloth as Community: Hmong Textiles in America features 28 textiles—flower cloths and embroidered story clothes— created by members of the Hmong community. The works illustrate the profound historical relevance of textiles in Hmong culture along with the way the art form shifted as it adapted to new realities.

This exhibit is part of a Program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and supported by The National Endowment for the Arts.