Like all art, Hmong paj ntaub (flower cloths) are inspired by their environment. The motifs and symbols represent everything from nature to architecture, and one can only imagine the intimate relationship between the Hmong and the land they live on when it is featured on elaborate and arduous embroidery. Many of the people in the diaspora may not have the same kind of physical closeness to the land as they once did, but these symbols continue to persist in the form of tattoos and other mediums.