MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Pang Xiong Sirirathasuk Sikoun wove her history and that of her people into massive quilts in a Hmong embroidery style called paj ntaub.
NAOMI STURM-WIJESINGHE: She has huge pieces, like the size of a huge wall - right? - that literally tell the story of Hmong migration, you know, from China and from Laos and to the refugee camps in Thailand during the Vietnam War. And then you see them - you literally - like, you see them boarding the planes to the U.S. and coming to Philadelphia.
KELLY: That is Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe. She is executive director of the Philadelphia Folklore Project. That s a nonprofit that supported Pang s work. Pang died from COVID-19 in December. She was 76. But her legacy lives on through her craft and the stories she told. In the late 70s, Pang s family was among thousands of Hmong people who immigrated to the U.S., many of them fleeing war and oppression in East Asia.