The book is part of a project to bring stories from the lives of Southeast Asian weavers and batik makers to an American audience, using video as the main component. Although the makers of textiles are generally not named in American museum collections, the creation of textiles is not anonymous in Southeast Asian communities. Senior artists are held in public esteem, and the cloth they produce is instantly recognizable to local people as their unique product.
Roy W. Hamilton is senior curator for Asian and Pacific collections at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Other contributors include Jill Forshee, Traude Gavin, and Cherubim A. Quizon.
