- Ben (L) and Matthias check the map of France at the empty service Aire de la Porte...
- Ben (R), carpenter, works with Marius, another Wandergeselle, at a working site building the...
- Ben (L) and Matthias sit in the backseat of Stéphane's car, as outside the...
- Matthias (L) and Ben walk along the empty road from Narbonne to Gruissan as they aim to reach...
- Matthias holds a sign reading "Direction of Lyon", to show drivers as he...
- Matthias (L) and Ben stand on the green screen of the media studio at the University of Arts in...
- Ben is seen wearing his face mask and with the mark of his hat on his forehead, as he sits at the...
- Ben (L) and Matthias walk away from the cathedral of Strasbourg, where they just met to start...
- Ismail (L), Matthias (C) and Ben walk wearing face masks on the street of Santurtzi as they carry...
- Ben gets rid of mud stuck on his boots using a small wooden stick and the water of a puddle, in...
- Matthias (C) and Ben wearing face masks sit at the table in the common area of the Franciscan...
- Ben plays with his stick and luggage as Matthias asks questions to a man sitting in his...
- Matthias (C-L) and Ben (C-R) sit in the backseat of a bus during a trip from Irun to San...
- Matthias works on the wood flooring in the living room of Marko's house, in...
- Matthias stands in the street and hugs Svea as she cries for the imminent departure of the two...
- Matthias (R) walks up the hill as a mountain biker rides downhill in the late afternoon sun in...
- Ben's booklet is photographed on the table at Peter and Rachael's house, showing...
- Baby Eloan looks up with wide open eyes at Ben who holds his hands in Momul's living...
- Matthias prepares for the night among motorbikes in the workshop at the ground floor of...
- Ben wears his blue "Ehrbarkeit" (kind of tie symbolizing his belonging to the...
- Ben (R), Matthias (C) and Momul stand in front of the priest's house after ringing the...
- Joachim (L) talks as Ben (C) stands and Matthias finishes to prepare the salad for dinner in...
- Ben and Matthias get out of the trunk of Bernard's two-seats-truck where they were lying...
- Ben walks on the sand at the Concha beach at sunrise in San Sebastian, Spain, on December 16,...
Ben (L) and Matthias check the map of France at the empty service Aire de la Porte d'Alsace on the A36 after Mulhouse, France, in the late afternoon of December 2, 2020. They reunited there after getting on different lifts near Strasbourg.
Ben (R), carpenter, works with Marius, another Wandergeselle, at a working site building the house of an architect in the woods in Caputh near Potsdam, Berlin, on November 24, 2020. Ben has been working there for a couple of months already and sleeps in a Guesthouse organised and paid by the master. He also receives a wage for his work on top.
Ben (L) and Matthias sit in the backseat of Stéphane's car, as outside the rain starts again, near Gaillac, France, on December 12, 2020. Stéphane, a cook for star restaurants, saw the two young men walking along the road on his way to Gaillac, and later told them that as he saw them again while driving back home, he had to stop to learn about their costumes. Discovering about this tradition made him visibly happy and touched him profoundly during the short time they shared in the car trip from Gaillac, via Lisle-sur-Tarne until Rabastens, where he drove them extra 16 km.
Matthias (L) and Ben walk along the empty road from Narbonne to Gruissan as they aim to reach the Mediterranean sea and watch out for a car to hitch-hike, in Narbonne, on December 6, 2020.
Matthias holds a sign reading "Direction of Lyon", to show drivers as he hitch-hikes on the driveway towards the highway of Strasbourg, France, on December 2, 2020. After walking to the outskirts of the city and standing on the right driveway, no car stopped for a couple of hours and a different approach was agreed: after a break in the adjacent shopping mall to warm up, the two travellers went to approach car drivers directly at a nearby gas station.
Matthias (L) and Ben stand on the green screen of the media studio at the University of Arts in Besançon, France, on December 3, 2020. Reinhardt, the last lift of the previous night, is a German artist and Professor at the University of Arts in Besançon who invited them to his class and a tour of the premises.
Ben is seen wearing his face mask and with the mark of his hat on his forehead, as he sits at the table in Momul's living room,after arriving at his host's house in Muret, France, on December 12, 2020. After some options had failed for the Wandergesellen to find a place to sleep for the night, Momul decided to help out and took them home, preparing a delicious dinner with typical recipies from his Guyanese cuisine
Ben (L) and Matthias walk away from the cathedral of Strasbourg, where they just met to start their trip towards Portugal together, France, on December 1, 2020.
Ismail (L), Matthias (C) and Ben walk wearing face masks on the street of Santurtzi as they carry leir luggages to Ismail's care before departure, in Santurtzi, Bilbao, Spain, on December 18, 2020.
Ben gets rid of mud stuck on his boots using a small wooden stick and the water of a puddle, in Rabastens, France, on December 12, 2020. After arriving in Gaillac, the two Wandergesellen engaged on a walk in the fields which were muddy after days of rain, trying to reach an access to the toll or the driveway on the highway to Toulouse, failing and instead getting warned by the police on the way. Thus they decided to continue hitch-hiking on national roads until the city.
Matthias (C) and Ben wearing face masks sit at the table in the common area of the Franciscan monastery in Narbonne, as the monk Pierre (L- Pedru from Romania) serves them some coffee ans food for their dinner, in Narbonne, France, on December 6, 2020. Pedru picked up the two on the side road in Gruissan, after he went with his superior for a walk on the beach on a Sunday afternoon during lockdown, as he needed to breath some air after many weeks enclosed.
Ben plays with his stick and luggage as Matthias asks questions to a man sitting in his camper-van at sunset on top of the hill in the outskirts of Narbonne, on December 5, 2020. Ben has a quiet character while Matthias is more joyful and energetic, always active and connecting with strangers.
Matthias (C-L) and Ben (C-R) sit in the backseat of a bus during a trip from Irun to San Sebastian, as Joachim (L) and Concha (R) ask them questions about their traditional costumes and travel, in Spain, on December 15, 2020. The two Spaniards are part of a group of ten who, after a hike in the mountains, walked passed the bus station where Matthias and Ben waited and were greeted by them, meeting by chance on the same bus to San Sebastian a few minutes later.
Matthias works on the wood flooring in the living room of Marko's house, in Lacapelle-Ségalar, near Albi, France, on December 10, 2020. Typically Wandergeselle engage in some renovation works as a payback for the hospitality received by their hosts.
Matthias stands in the street and hugs Svea as she cries for the imminent departure of the two Wandergesellen who stayed with the family for fours days making her after school days fun, in Lacapelle-Ségalar, near Albi, on December 12, 2020. The village has less than 100 inhabitants and with the restrictions in place, possibilities for company and distractions are reduced at a minimum, making the presence of the two young carpenters a joyful diversion for the lonely child with her single parent.
Matthias (R) walks up the hill as a mountain biker rides downhill in the late afternoon sun in the outskirts of Narbonne, France, on December 5, 2020. As the driver Nico set Ben and Matthias off, they had a picnic near a roundabout and decided to walk to the beach and took a panoramic path.
Ben's booklet is photographed on the table at Peter and Rachael's house, showing the number and kind of hitchhiking lifts he had since the start of his Wanderschaft around four months earlier, in Münster, on November 29, 2020.
Baby Eloan looks up with wide open eyes at Ben who holds his hands in Momul's living room, in Muret, France, on December 13, 2020. Momul's Guyanese family kindly had welcomed the two German travelling journeymen in their house offering a shelter for the night.
Matthias prepares for the night among motorbikes in the workshop at the ground floor of Gil's old house in Genilac, France, on December 4, 2020. Gil picked the Wandergesellen in a service area on the highway and applied the principle of helping his brothers, as he is a handcraft Compagnon du devoir according to the French tradition.
Ben wears his blue "Ehrbarkeit" (kind of tie symbolizing his belonging to the gruild of the Rolandsbruder) on a T-shirt as he awaits for all the three white shirts he belongs to wash and dry in the House of the Federation of the Compagnons du Tour de France in Anglet, on December 14, 2020.
Ben (R), Matthias (C) and Momul stand in front of the priest's house after ringing the bell, in Muret, France, on December 12, 2020. Arriving late in the city and with rain coming and going, Momul, a local restaurateur originally from the Guyane Island, helps them to find a place to stay for the night.
Joachim (L) talks as Ben (C) stands and Matthias finishes to prepare the salad for dinner in Joachim's kitchen, in San Sebastian, on December 15, 2020.
Ben and Matthias get out of the trunk of Bernard's two-seats-truck where they were lying during a touristic trip around Gruissan, at a stop in the fishers' village of Gruissan in France, on December 6, 2020.
Ben walks on the sand at the Concha beach at sunrise in San Sebastian, Spain, on December 16, 2020. After spending the nigh at Joachim's who gave them the keys of the apartment, the travellers left as he was still sleeping and went for an early morning walk to visit the city without carrying their luggage, which they revtrieved later, before departing for the next stop on their trip.

UNPLAN 

(the goal is the way, the way is the challenge)

How does one stay home when one has no home? How does one go to work when first has to knock on doors to get a job?

The aim of two young "Wandergesellen", two German carpenters on their traditional Walz trip, is to leave Germany and reach Portugal, get a job and stay put in the South over the winter waiting for better times.

The aim of the photographer was experiencing with them during a hitch-hiking trip through Germany, France and Spain, how the pandemic affected the population and its willingness to help three nomads on their way to work.

We undertook a challenging path, both respectful of the new reality of the virus, and at the same time true to the different lifestyle and set of rules of the German "Wanderschaft".

On the road with two German Wandergesellen (travelling Journeymen) from Berlin to Spain, in November and December 2020.

#Borders #Carpenter
Chiara Dazi
Photographer based in Berlin
Public Story
Copyright Chiara Dazi 2023
Date of Work Nov 2020 - Dec 2020
Updated Jul 2021
Topics Borders, Carpenter, Community, Custom, Documentary, Epidemics, Freedom, Handcraft, Homelessness, Job, Lifestyle, Pandemics, Photography, Photojournalism, Tradition, Travel, Walz, Wanderschaft, Work, Youth
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by Chiara Dazi by Chiara Dazi by Chiara Dazi
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