Temps de trajet

Jessica Lopes and Charl Vinz give voice to those whose daily commutes reflect the inequalities of everyday life. A socially engaged project, blending field research, visual storytelling, and reflections on how our mobile lives are shaped.

A man and a woman stand on a station platform, posing for the camera. — Jessica Lopes and Charl vinz

© Rari Matei

Focus area Temps de trajet
Type of grant stART-up fund
Period 2024

Temps de trajet is a hybrid, socially conscious project at the crossroads of graphic novel and illustrated essay. Combining sociological research, personal narratives, and observational drawing, Jessica Lopes and Charl Vinz offer a sensitive, human portrait of a daily reality: the time spent commuting. Through fourteen journeys documented on the ground, the duo explores the social inequalities revealed by movement through space.

Jessica shares: “We accompanied people on their morning or late-night commutes – often exhausting – and tried to capture their experience through visual storytelling. The project was born from our own conversations, from the time I lose every day on the road, while Charl works from home. We wanted to question that imbalance.”

Charl highlights the project’s artistic and political intent: “I’ve been observing and sketching public space for years. Commuting is the most routine and invisible form of movement. To depict it is to make the ordinary visible.”

a man is drawing an illustration — Charl vinz

© Rari Matei

Photo of a few illustrations

© Rari Matei

Photo of an office with a drawing table in the center and sketches hanging on the wall.

© Rari Matei

Close-up of a computer, with a person's hands typing on the keyboard.

© Rari Matei

a woman sitting at a desk, working on a laptop — Jessica Lopes

© Rari Matei

As the graphic novel’s release approaches, planned for September 24, 2025, the final edits are being polished with their publisher. An associated exhibition will take place at the Chambre des Salariés and on the platform of Luxembourg’s central station – symbolic spaces for a work that foregrounds labour and mobility dynamics.

A project born with no prior publishing or comic-making experience, it has grown step by step, driven by collective will and a shared vision.

We learned by doing. Thanks to supportive advice and venues like Kulturfabrik, we’ve been able to turn the idea into something real.

Jessical Lopes et Charl vinz Temps de Trajet

A man and a woman stand face to face on a station platform. The woman looks into the camera, while the man turns his gaze towards her.

A man and a woman are standing on a station platform, looking to the left.

One of the most striking moments? A night ride to Villerupt with exhausted cross-border workers – a suspended moment, both mundane and deeply political. “What I knew in theory – the link between mobility and precarity – became real to me that night, ” says Jessica. Their long-term goal is clear: to make these issues readable and shareable beyond academic circles, and to encourage collective reflection on how we organize work and mobility.

We often talk about commuting as an individual issue. But it’s time to treat it as a social question. Commuting is never just a journey. It’s time from our lives.

Jessical Lopes et Charl Vinz Temps de Trajet