A Cambodian woman carrying a bundle of cotton kramas on her head pauses for an informal portrait. ...

A Cambodian woman carrying a bundle of cotton kramas on her head pauses for an informal portrait. The krama, a traditional Cambodian scarf which can be woven from either silk or cotton is manufactured in villages throughout Cambodia and is seen in an endless variety of uses - as a scarf, turban, apron, skirt, for carrying articles, as a baby's hammock or as a bed sheet. There was a danger that the knowledge of traditional Khmer weaving designs and practices would disappear after the devastation of the Khmer Rouge period, where craftspeople were viewed as representing the old order and were either assigned to food production or executed.