Tai: A Woven Culture

This lavish, large format art project is the culmination of 20 years research of Tai culture throughout Southeast Asia, beginning with Napajaree Suandduenchai's vast 1,500 piece silk collection which has remained private until now. All 230 photographs were shot on sheet film to bring out the most intricate details of the textiles.


Over the last 20 years, Mrs. Suanduenchai and photographer Hans Roels visited all the major Tai subgroups in their towns and villages to document their weaving traditions, culture and individual stories - their belief of who they are and where they came from. Roels' photography captures both the intricacy of the Tai weaving arts as well as the people behind the textiles. As of 2022 at least 75% of the villages that Suanduenchai and Roels visited no longer produce traditional Tai textiles, leaving the reader as the last eye-witnesses to a spectacular culture.