East-West Center

Arts & Performances

The textiles in this exhibition come from the Lao provinces of Houa Phan and Xiang Khoang. The Lao-Tai people from this mountanous region belong to the Tai-Kedai language root of which other Tai peoples such as the Thai of Thailand and the Shan of Myanmar also belong.

In the past, a Lao-Tai woman wove all the textiles needed for her family. Today, women weave their traditional masterpiece for the tourist trade, many still using natural materials and dyes.

Two textile motifs of the Lao-Tai people stand out, that of the serpent and the bird. The serpent and bird were totems of pre-historic clans that settled mainland Southeast Asia and their stories are re-told to this day in the dynamic weavings of the peoples of northeastern Laos.

 

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