How do you draw a country like Switzerland?

Swiss morning ritual: “Hmm, what language shall I speak today?” (7.19.2016) Marina Lutz

It is not easy to sum up a country with four linguistic regions in a cartoon and ensure it makes sense to an international readership in ten languages. That was the task given to cartoonist Marina Lutz.

Lutz joined swissinfo.ch a year ago to produce the “Cartoon of the week” series and we published her final drawing on March 10. The 28-year-old painter and political cartoonist comes from the Romansh-speaking area of canton Graubünden. She was asked to transform current events in Switzerland into cartoons that even those unfamiliar with the country would understand. 

Did she succeed? We leave it to you to judge. Here’s a selection of some of her memorable works for swissinfo.ch. 

Living in Switzerland means endless conversations about the weather, especially if there is enough snow to go skiing. Coming from mountain country herself, Lutz used her imagination to capture the anxiety of ski resorts over a leaner and shorter snow season.

Declaring war on weather. Swiss ski resorts will make snow if Mother Nature won’t. Marina Lutz

Direct democracy was another subject that made for a good cartoon opportunity. The vote in November 2016 on whether to wean Switzerland off nuclear power was given a very Swiss treatment. 

Swiss meltdown: Voters to decide on November 27 on nuclear phase out Marina Lutz

The Swiss are obsessed with tunnels and railways and it doesn’t get bigger than the inauguration of the world’ longest rail tunnel – the Gotthard Base Tunnel – in June 2016. 

Another tunnel for Switzerland – Marina Lutz (May 27, 2016) Marina Lutz

Switzerland is also known the world over for secret banking but was upstaged by tiny Panama when the Panama Papers leaks were published in 2016. No matter, Swiss intermediaries did have a hand in setting up offshore companies there.

The secret Panama Canal (May 13, 2016) Marina Lutz

Swiss banking tradition appears to be in good hands with the younger generation when it comes to number crunching. An international survey showed that Swiss kids were the best in math in Europe.

Maths replaces bedtime stories: Pisa survey finds young Swiss top of European class for mathematics. Marina Lutz