Slums in Paris

Slums in Vincennes, Paris

In the woods of Vincennes at the foot of the French kings' castle more than 200 people live in sheds, huts or tents. A new shantytown in a chic green island in Paris. In plain sight of joggers and families out for a sunday stroll. These men are lost, excluded and at odds with society. These french men, veterans of rooming houses and squats have chosen the forest and not the streets. Most live alone in tents or makeshift shelters, the vegetation hiding them from the passersby on the footpaths nearby. Candles are used for lighting, firewood for cooking and alcohol to keep warm. A rustic existance at the gates of the nations' capital. The woods are a humid, hazardous and dangerous place. Theft and violence underline an every man for himself attitude. The outcasts of Vincennes are trespassers and liable to be evicted. However as long as they keep a low profile the authorities remain tolerant. To live destitute, stay hidden.

Regis, 49, four years in a hut. His shack is a very personal combination of branches and canvas covers. A true little house with pans hanging, a dresser, an old sofa and some newspapers. In the back, behind a screen, an igloo tent: his room. To give some color to his life, Regis hung two posters - Goya and Modigliani - and a Swiss flag. Showing the flag, he says: "Welcome to the Swiss Embassy!" Regis would like to claim an extraterritoriality status, to be finally clear. He has been homeless for eight years. "I have been expelled from my home. And the problems continued. I forgot everything from my past," he says. He learned to live without electricity nor water, with his two cats and his solitude. "I feel better here than in a public housing unit." Regis is nearly 50 and he's almost happy.

Jean, 64. Two years and a half in a hut. Jean has a belly as big as his laugh. And this former tiler laughs a lot with his homeless friends. He doesn't like that much walking around the wood, but he can spend hours and years under his patched up canvas sheet, chatting and setting the world to rights. He excluded himself from this world, after 15 years in the street. "We are wiser than it seems." In Vincennes, Jean feels "good and not good". He appreciates wild life, but regrets to have built his roof so close to a busy road. But he gave up on moving. "We don't camp in random places. There are more and more inhabitants in the wood." The Robinsons have also neighbour rules.