A new website takes viewers deep inside the Hmong Diaspora, from the mountain villages and rice fields of Laos to shaman ceremonies and farms in California’s Central Valley. The project is sponsored by CDA and the City of Fresno’s Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund.
From 2004 to 2014, photographer and CDA board president, Joel Pickford made a deep dive into Hmong culture, capturing more than 40,000 digital images in Central California and Laos. This work resulted in the publication of a hardcover book, Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey Through the Hmong Diaspora (Heyday 2012), a three gallery exhibition at the Fresno Art Museum and a separate exhibition at the University of Milwaukee Art Museum.
The new website creates a digital research collection for scholars of history, anthropology, diaspora studies, traditional architecture, agriculture and other subjects. The archive also serves Hmong families who will one day use it to learn more about their ancestors. It breaks new ground by employing documentary photography as a research tool to build online collections that will become more and more valuable to scholars as time passes.
From 2004 to 2014, photographer and CDA board president, Joel Pickford made a deep dive into Hmong culture, capturing more than 40,000 digital images in Central California and Laos. This work resulted in the publication of a hardcover book, Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey Through the Hmong Diaspora (Heyday 2012), a three gallery exhibition at the Fresno Art Museum and a separate exhibition at the University of Milwaukee Art Museum.
The new website creates a digital research collection for scholars of history, anthropology, diaspora studies, traditional architecture, agriculture and other subjects. The archive also serves Hmong families who will one day use it to learn more about their ancestors. It breaks new ground by employing documentary photography as a research tool to build online collections that will become more and more valuable to scholars as time passes.
We have just completed the first City of Fresno Measure P grant funding cycle, uploading approximately 700 images with captions and narrative texts. This is about 30% of the total archive content. We expect to complete the project in 2028.
In order to get the most out of the Hmong Photographic Archive, we recommend using a desktop computer, a laptop computer or an iPad. Using a bigger screen will allow you to see more detail in the photographs. However, some viewers report that the iPad offers a very pleasant user experience for reading the narrative texts while relaxing in a comfortable chair.
In order to get the most out of the Hmong Photographic Archive, we recommend using a desktop computer, a laptop computer or an iPad. Using a bigger screen will allow you to see more detail in the photographs. However, some viewers report that the iPad offers a very pleasant user experience for reading the narrative texts while relaxing in a comfortable chair.
Visit the archive at hmongphotos.org
Click here to support CDA projects like the Hmong Photographic History and Culture Archive
Click here to support CDA projects like the Hmong Photographic History and Culture Archive
