Time To Restitch #2: Ideas From Occitanie

The region known as the Comarca Lagunera (or Region of Lagoons) is an entity that acts like a lot of things. One of them is (for all intents and purposes) like an administrative region, composed by municipalities from the states of Coahuila and Durango.

I'd like to stress the importance of the phrase "for all intents and purposes" because legally it is not recognized as such but many aspects of the relationships that the cities have with the states, federal government and private companies are handled as if it were an actual administrative region. 

That is probably the first parallel of many that this story has.

In the south of France there is something known as the administrative region of Occitanie, which takes its name from the historical political region (or country) that has existed for centuries inside the French territory.

Both the administrative region as well as the political one use the same symbol: The Occitan Cross.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)


(Flag of the Administrative Region of Occitanie. Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

It is from the south of France that an idea was sponsored and sent to the north of Mexico with a herald that had previously disembarked on this shores before. In 2011 to be exact.

The herald brought a message that he had already delivered in other places before, such as Colombia and his home country of France.

It was an idea that had been tried and tested successfully.

The message was simple but like all ideas that are this sincere, the scope of the impact it can have tends to be so immense that it's not easily perceived in its entirety the first time it's presented.

It was the 20th of September of 2018 that the laguneros (how the people who were born or moved to the region are called) arrived to what for all intents and purposes is an embassy of the French Republic in the region: the Alliance Française of Torreon.

The amount of interest that the idea sparked in people was so vast that the stairs were a perfectly valid place to sit.

After all, when an idea is interesting enough the last concern on your mind is whether you're comfortable or not.

What matters is being there in order to listen about it and be a part of it.

Once the herald was done presenting the evidence of the other places where he had taken his Occitan message previously, it was our turn to receive it.

The message could be summarized in one word if needed.

That word was: Restitch.

The Collins Dictionary simply defines the word as "To stitch again"

Admittedly, the word has fallen into disuse ever since the 1990s, but it does exist.

It was chosen because you have to take into account that the French and Spanish languages have a different root than the English one has. 

In the original language (French) the word used by the artist to name his project was "repriser" and the one in Spanish was "zurcir".

Both mean "to mend, stitch back together or subtly join two things together" in the broad sense of the word.

Due to the need to bridge the gap between languages and come up with a word that would convey the same meaning as the words in French and Spanish and encompass the artistic intent of the project, a friend of mine helped me by suggesting the word "restitch".

(Thanks for your help, V)

Hopefully this will all make sense by the time this journal ends.

Let's define "restitch" as "to stitch back together in order to fix or join two things together".

So, joining things?

Bringing people together?

In times like this?

What an insane idea...

And yet, the herald from Occitanie did just that.

Even though this was a briefing, he began to restitch without anyone noticing.

But I don't mean the strokes he drew on the paper taped to the wall.

I mean with the people who assisted.

Showing complete congruence between his words and his actions he did something I wasn't expecting to see at this point:

He yielded his compressed charcoal to the people there:

Something that the herald from Occitanie was looking for his idea were artists but it was just as important to have people who had nothing to do with art, specifically with drawing or painting.

I have to admit that the first time I heard that, the idea sounded counterproductive for the final result. 

I doubt I was the only one with such thinking.

But even so, who was I to judge an idea that wasn't mine and that I couldn't completely comprehend?

I'd have to call on that bet and see what was in store.

I imagine that was the same conclusion of many who were there because little by little they joined the stitching process that occurred in front of them.

While those people laid down the first stitches of many to come, the herald continued his explanation of what he was looking to achieve with his project.

It was at that moment that one of the main architects who helped from behind the curtains to stitch together the regions of Occitanie and the Comarca Lagunera made his appearance on stage.

His name: Gustavo Montes, a local artist with a long career and vast experience.

His role in this story began before this day and will continue to be an important part of it throughout the course of this journal.

The briefing held by the herald from Occitanie was nearing its end. What would be one of the best parts of the idea in general was about to be presented. It was ambitious and completely different from the usual logistics of a project such as a mural.

The project wouldn't be made by just one mural, as was my original assumption, but by three.

The locations chosen would be in places completely different from each other, and yet similar at the same time.

This also meant that in order to witness the art piece in its entirety, one would have to visit the three places.

That told me that this wasn't just an improvised idea. It was something planned and with a purpose. It was a simple yet an ambitious idea.

The idea that came from Occitanie interested me a lot more even if I have to admit that I hadn't fully understood it yet.

The briefing ended and everyone who attended was invited to stitch in the first mural that would be made, beginning the 22nd of September.

The herald of Occitanie had accomplished his mission: communicate his idea in a region that hadn't seen a project with this intentions and scope.

Yes, murals had been done here before but not with the purpose these would have.

It was the turn of the Laguneros to heed the Occitan invitation.

The question now was: Would we?

Would we seize such an opportunity in its entirety or would it just be another sterile experience?

Would it be a work of art that would transcend or would it just be mere casual content for social networks?

Those would be some questions to be answered in the upcoming days.

There were some familiar faces there, artists in their own right with whom previous experiences and projects had been shared with and now it was a new opportunity to share again.

(Aarón Rivera, Claudia Castro, Erón Vargas)

Once that most of the attending crowd focused on the refreshments offered after the briefing, some of us approached the wall to try our luck as stitchers.

Auditioning To Become A Muralist

Another stitch that would be made during this project: the mutual collaboration of different generations.

(The Herald from Occitanie, Claudia Castro, Victoria Valentina)

It was time to go. The opportunity to keep stitching would come soon.

It was a chance I wanted to take. It's not every day that projects like this come to your door and not every day you're invited to this kind of thing.

Shortly before I left, I met with another important character of this story, but his role is still yet to be revealed for now.

I admit and acknowledge that in this point in time I didn't understand the purpose of the mural. Heck, I couldn't even learn the name of the herald from Occitanie.

Even so, I'd have to call on the bet and see what cards would be played. That would be no problem though.

Monsters On The Wall

After all, that was the whole idea.

To be continued...

A special thank you to my mother, Nancy Núñez, for allowing me to use her photographs of this day in order to be able to make this entry.

Entry Index:

Cover: Time To Restitch

Chapter #1: What Do I Have To Do With It?

Chapter 3: The Three Beginnings

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Time To Restitch Collection