33 ¾ x 33 ½ 

This is a "story cloth" made by an unidentified Hmong needle worker, most likely a woman from Laos refugee camp in Thailand in the early to mid 1980s.  It's an example of paj ndau, a traditional embroidery with bold colors and geometric designs, particularly on garments worn in rituals.  Once in camps, women began to recreate narratives of their life at home on cloth to sell to western markets with the help of missionaries and relief agencies and so they could send money back to relatives.  While visiting CGP, '76 classmate John Baule in Minneapolis in the late '80s, I purchased this from a Hmong family at a neighborhood arts festival.  Minneapolis was one of the largest Southeast Asian refugee communities in the United States.