History of the Lao PDR series (Living in the Caves of Viengxay)

Linthong Phoumanivong is an experienced weaver from Phonsay Village, Sam Nuea District, Hua Phan Province, Laos. She is technically very skilled in the difficult traditional technique of discontinuous supplementary weft on silk. As a witness to the development of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Second Indochina War, Linthong Phoumanivong has created a series of pictorial textiles narrating this history from her perspective.This textile illustrates the town of Viengxay, considered the birthplace of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The town served as the headquarters of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Army and the Pathet Lao from 1953. The leaders of the Pathet Lao (Lao Country), soldiers, and civilians lived in the caves surrounding the town – which sheltered over 20,000 people during the Second Indochina War.