EARTH SCRIPTURES: Last Challenge

Last Challenge

Photo and Words by


NunoCanha


What you see here is Sr. Manuel, an old shoemaker from Espinho.
Two month short for his retirement, after 45 years on the job, is being
challenged to make a leather half case for my X100.
After handing my camera, some prints from www and a model (that I made from
the box of a cereal box and that you can see it on the right, with the lens
in black), and after hearing my dissertation about how it must look and
work he started drawing... in the page of an old Yellow Pages, yellowed by
time.

He is retiring not by choice but due to new IRS rules in Portugal.
For every transaction he must charge the costumer for the service and a 23%
tax (which he doesn't, thus the prices), and the bill must contain the
craftsman and the costumer's info, even if the service costs 50 Cent.
Preferably by a special machine, with a web connection to the IRS.
The only thing using electricity in his shop are the lamp and a small radio.

Not allowed by the Government, not workable because if he has few bills
(helping out mending material for people with less resources to buy new) his
pension will be 150 Euros, and if he declares more than 450 Euros per month
he will be severely taxed.

We're talking about a man but also about an example, a man with a physical
disability (see the hand made crutch behind him) that refused to stay home
living of some kind of social pension and decided to work like he did all his
life.

Solution? Close the door, and go home.
And with him goes the affordable craftsman's knowledge and quality, replaced
by high priced (and branded) manufactured products.