The exhibition Pao Houa Her: Seeds of History presents a newly completed photographic series by Pao Houa Her that brings together her long-standing practices of portraiture and landscape photography. The work reflects Her’s deep commitment to building relationships and thoughtfully representing the people and cultural traditions of the HMong diaspora.
Developed alongside Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Seeds of History grew from the artist’s vision to photograph HMong Americans from the Sheboygan area posed in a field of poppies. Created in the summer of 2025, the black-and-white series includes more than a dozen portraits, thirteen of which were acquired by JMKAC. Each image depicts a member of Sheboygan’s local HMong American community.
More than a historical record, Seeds of History honors the enduring presence and vitality of the HMong diaspora in Sheboygan more than fifty years after HMong refugees first arrived in the region. By naming each individual portrayed, the series centers dignity, care, and connection—affirming that history is shaped by real people and relationships, not anonymous figures or statistics.
* HMong is written with a capital H and M to be inclusive of White HMong and Green Mong dialects. Speakers of the White dialect pronounce “HMong” with a silent “H,” indicating a nasal aspiration or puff of air out of the nose. Speakers of the Green dialect pronounce “Mong” without.
