Ruästel Paul, mountain farmer (People 2014, by Samuel Trümpy) - Swiss Press Award
Freie Arbeit, publiziert an diversen Ausstellungen
Samuel Trümpy
Every morning, early in the morning, a little light comes on in Ruästel Paul's little house up on the Ennetberg mountains. Ruästel Paul then puts on his work trousers and pulls on his blue Alpine shirt. Just as his father did every day before handing the farm over to Paul 40 years ago. Then Paul squeezes his feet into his old rubber boots and shuffles to the stable and to his 30 cows, which are often his only company up here. He clears away their manure, milks and feeds them. Just as he did that morning three years ago when I first met him. I have been visiting Ruästel Paul regularly since then and taking portraits of him in his everyday life. His real name is Paul Hefti. But everyone calls him "Ruästel," like the Krachen land that belongs to him: "Ruästel." Paul is 64 years old and has spent his entire life in the Ennetberg mountains: 1,100 meters above sea level, with Glarus at his feet, and the Fronalpstock and Schilt peaks looking down on him behind his shoulder. Paul has never been on vacation in his entire life. He stays up here alone in the winter when he has to shovel the snow out of the stable, and in the summer when he greets hikers trying not to step in a cow pat as they pass his cottage. Hikers then see a rustic little man hiding his mouth under a beard as thick as the grass on an unmown alpine pasture—after all, there's more to do up here than talk about. What the hikers can't see are the seven-day weeks, the stamina, and the strength needed to cultivate the essentially man-made Alpine nature they enjoy on their hikes. Paul doesn't expect a thank you. What he does is second nature to him. But without people like him, who lead this hard and sometimes deprived life, our rich Alpine landscape would be lost. He deserves a thank you for this commitment. I hope my pictures can offer insight into his life, into his work, but also into the times when Paul seems lonely, alone up there in his little house in the Ennetberg mountains.
