World traveller takes break in Sierre

Daniel Ceppi with his creation Stéphane Clément Keystone

One of Switzerland's most widely-travelled characters is taking a rest at Sierre in Canton Valais, for an exhibition about his adventures around the world.

Stéphane Clément has been just about everywhere – but only in the mind of his creator, because he’s a fictional strip cartoon character whose adventures abroad have captured the imagination of readers throughout Europe.

The exhibition at the Comic Strip Centre in Sierre is, in fact, the first major retrospective in Switzerland of the work of artist and writer Daniel Ceppi, who created Clément in 1977.

Ceppi admits to having the same travelling bug as Clément, the fictional character who has followed in his author’s footsteps, but it’s up to readers and visitors to the exhibition to decide for themselves how alike they are in other respects.

Clément is a modest, vulnerable and introverted personality who has high ethical standards. Wherever he goes and whomever he meets, he shares their concerns and is confronted with many moral issues of the day.

These have included such diverse topics as the sale of human organs, prostitution, peace moves in Northern Ireland and the conflict over water resources in the Middle East.

Born in Geneva in 1951, Ceppi studied art there and soon afterwards illustrated his first comic strip “Le guêpier” (the wasps’ nest) while on a visit to Turkey.

The exhibition, entitled “Stéphane Clément, chronicles of a traveller”, ends on April 12.

swissinfo with agencies