meaghan bissett
selina latour 

A participatory art work, On Semble to Gather, 2025

Photos by Arseni Khamzin

 

Communal Catalogne is a relational artwork that focuses on themes of sustainable craft, process-based creation, and community building. Catalogne rag rug weaving is a historic Québecois vernacular craft technique that repurposes scrap fabrics to make functional rugs or blankets. In the summer of 2022, bissett and latour hosted a series of workshops on sustainable textiles and mending at the Pointe Saint Charles Art School. They transported a table loom and weaving materials around the PSC neighbourhood on a bike trailer provided by the Pedalbox Gallery. Stopping at parks, they invited passersby to participate by learning how to weave, and then practicing on the rag rug. These workshops connected strangers through communal learning experiences and shared storytelling. Communal Catalogne is now installed on an interactive structure that references the mechanics of a loom. Two people must work together in order to move the rag rug back and forth, much like the partnership required to wind a warp on a loom.​​