A Thread Through History: How Interlinking Contemporary Art with Paj Ntaub can Connect Generations

Abstract

To Broken Souls is a YA novel that serves as a love letter to my identity as a Hmong American. I explore the intergenerational conflict between the various generations of the Hmong and the cultural conflicts that arise in the wake of a Hmong American boy who feels like he doesn’t belong in either group. This creative thesis project serves to explore the relationship between the duality of culture and identity in both its narrative and visual concept by understanding the history of Hmong folk art and its relation to Hmong independence. By doing so, the visual representation of the story will take the aesthetic found in Hmong Story Cloths and update it in a contemporary manner as a possible route in preserving and engaging interest in Hmong heritage.