In SEUMES WEG, photographer and author Eric Pawlitzky reflects on a historical hike over 2,160 km. The project was inspired by Johann Gottfried Seume's book “Walk to Syracuse in 1802”. At that time, the Saxon author traveled largely on foot from Grimma (south of Leipzig) to Syracuse in Sicily. Eric Pawlitzky has reconstructed the route of that journey and spent three months walking. He explored the question of what Seume would have seen today and how he would have perceived contemporary Europe.

In 95 color photographs, he attempts a reconstruction of Seume's vision. He has written a short lyrical text for each photograph, describing the author's inner world during the journey. The book avoids the common sober aesthetics of illustrated books. Instead, it is a reproduction of the author's working dummy, whereby traces of the creative process become visible in an archive-like impression. 

Pawlitzky on the project: "When you walk more than 25 km almost every day for three months, it does something to your vision, but also to your self-perception. In addition to the outer worlds, inner worlds also open up that you hardly notice in everyday life. That's what I wanted to show and tell."

Seumes Weg
Eric Pawlitzky
Lunik GmbH , 2025

24,5 x 14,3 cm, 200 pp; German
Cloth binding in slipcase open on both sides
ISBN 978-3-9822385-4-8