In an interview recorded at the 2024 BDFIL Gökce Erverdi and Julia Secklehner discuss the making and meaning of TLP’s first graphic novel, De la lumière à l’Ombre.

Gökce is an Istanbul-based artist. Julia is a convenor of TLP and member of the writing team for De la lumière à l’Ombre.

On 28 April 2024 TLP launched its first graphic novel at the eighteenth Festival de Bande Dessinée Lausanne, or BDFIL. The following are extracts from a roundtable hosted by Laurent Golay, Director of the Musée Historique Lausanne, and Gaby Fierz, the curator behind the museum’s 2023 exhibition Frontières: Le Traité de Lausanne. Our thanks to our publishers, Antipodes, for making this launch and roundtable possible, as well as for their hard work putting the book together. Copies of the book are now available from Antipodes’ website, as well as from FNAC and other outlets. We are eager to hear from any publisher interested in helping us bring it out in other languages.

What is going on with the title page?
Where does the story begin?
Who are Aloïs Derso and Emery Kelèn and why are they important?
What is The Lausanne Project and why did it make a graphic novel?
What is going on in this panel?
Why was Gökce drawn to draw a graphic novel about Lausanne?
How did the collaboration between the artist and the three writers work?
Were there any stories that didn’t make it into the final work?
Why produce a graphic novel about Lausanne in 2024?
How will the graphic novel be received in Turkey?

The views expressed are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.