Ia Vang
Ia Vang | Laos b.c.1960 | Pha pra vet (Story-telling cloth) with Wat Tham Krabok 2008 | Quilt: commercial cotton and polyester cloth with reverse appliqué and crewel embroidery | Purchased 2011. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Like many Laotians of her generation, Ia Vang’s art has been profoundly influenced by the Laotian Civil War (1953–75). Ia’s storytelling cloth documents her extended family’s experiences of this war, including fleeing attacks by the communist Pathet Lao, escaping across the Mekong River and living in refugee camps in Thailand. With this work, she transforms the strong Hmong tradition of fine embroidery known as paj ntaub (flower cloth) – customarily used to decorate costumes distinguishing different Hmong groups – into a new and dynamic form of expression.
Pha pra vet (storytelling cloths), such as Ia’s, have come to play an important role for the Hmong as their people manage complex cultural change. Ia’s embroidered personal account of the Laotian Civil War – using time-consuming chain and satin stitches – helps to communicate the collective experience of the Hmong to the outside world.
