磨刀师
The Knife Lady

A short film based on Mdm Lee, who is one of the last knife sharpeners that are left in Singapore. The purpose of this film is to introduce one of the least known traditional manual labour profession that will soon be rendered obsolete in the face of modernity. When will we ever stop destroying what is ours? 

This film is a continuation of my >22 series which talks about the traditional trades that are slowly vanishing. The knife sharpener wasn’t included in that publication as I forgot to put her inside… but here is a bigger scale and a video of her! But anyway, the reason why I chose her among all of the trades I found is that she’s the most interesting and least known among the modern society. Even I did not know that there is a profession that sharpens purely knives. Thus, I decided that it would be interesting for me to approach this new trade that I’ve never seen nor heard before and find out about its heritage, art and culture. 

After spending 3 days with her, there really is an art behind the knife sharpening. The skill and control she has while she free handedly buffers the knife, with sparks flying onto her apron with not a single flinch was made when it touches her leathery skin. She holds the knife with such grace and strength while she scraps in a certain angle across the rustic stone as she splatters water onto it for a smoother surface. What I was witnessing was 47 years of knife sharpening experience contained in that small shop of hers, tucked in a corner of People’s Park Centre.