TRADITION AND TRAGEDY : In Irvine, Hmong Quilts Reflect Everything From Old Values to the Horrors of the Vietnam War

To understand the art, it always helps to understand the artist--and it’s crucial when trying to comprehend Hmong quilts, the highly personal yet symbolic folk art of these Laotian people.

The Hmong--who don’t have a written language--use handmade quilts to depict events and activities. In peaceful times, a quilt, usually in the form of a “memory cloth,” could be a keepsake to commemorate a marriage, birth or other important occurrence.

But as the Vietnam War escalated, disastrously impacting surrounding countries such as Laos and Cambodia, the quilts were used to show how dramatically life had changed.

The colorful and intricate abstract designs that enliven the memory cloths gave way to literal scenes, of bombs dropping on villages, soldiers persecuting the Hmong and desperate migrations across the Mekong River into Thailand.

Both types of Hmong quilts, 32 examples in all, are on display at Irvine Valley College through Jan. 15 in an exhibit titled “Crossing the Mekong.”

“The older quilts represent traditional values and a respect for continuation from generation to generation, something that keeps contact with the ancient world,” explains Gayle Morrison, who organized the exhibit after working in Hmong refugee camps and collecting the quilts for several years.

“The modern quilts show pictures of actual events as seen by the people who experienced them. This is a form of oral history done in pictures.”

Morrison recounted that during the Vietnam War, the CIA recruited Hmong to fight the Communists and, especially, to locate and secure aircraft shot down in combat above Laos. Morrison said Hmong were able to rescue many pilots because of their knowledge of the rugged terrain.

After the war, the United States relocated some Hmong refugees to California; the first group arrived in Orange County in June, 1975. But most were forced to flee Vietnam and settle in Thailand in refugee camps.

The quilts tend to be made by women who remain in these camps, said Morrison, explaining that relatives in the United States sell the quilts here and then send the money back to the families in Thailand where, often, it is their only source of income.

The pieces on display in Irvine reveal a range of styles among both the memory cloths and the more narrative quilts. A large “story cloth” depicting Hmong history against a blue background is the most striking.

This tapestry, about 8-by-6 feet, uses satin embroidery to portray the early journey of the Hmong from China into Burma (now Myanmar) and their later escape from Laos to Thailand during the war. From the scenes of families tending cows, chickens and pigs to the strafing runs of enemy planes riddling the fields with bullets, the details are graphic.

Another story cloth, about 5-by-5 feet, is less dramatic but nonetheless revealing: Against a pale gray background, it shows the daily life of the Hmong, with children playing, a man smoking a pipe, the feeding of livestock, a man wooing a woman and a Shaman leading a religious ceremony. Other story quilts describe the individual attire of various ethnic groups within the Hmong.

In the memory cloths, the colors become more bold, the designs more fanciful and complex. Pyramids, squares, rectangles, crescents, criss-crosses, spikes and stars combine into various forms, weaved or stitched into various surfaces, some batik and some appliqued.

Morrison said the appearance and history of the quilts aren’t intriguing just American-born collectors but are generating interest among Hmong who have grown up in the United States. “The quilts generate pride in the community (and) have inspired the younger Hmong to find out more about the traditions and history of their culture.”