In a corner below the ground floor of Sydney’s near-century-old Cyprus Community Club in the city’s inner west, one of Sydney’s oldest “artists” is at work.
Armed with scissors and a comb in a small barber shop he built in the club’s dining hall in 1993, Kyriakos Vasilis is giving Arthur a trim.
At 87, Mr Vasilis might be Sydney’s oldest barber, but he insists he isn’t working.
Kyriakos Vasilis says the work is not too physically demanding. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)
“Hairdressing is not a job. Hairdressing is an art,” Mr Vasilis says.
“Either you have it, or you haven’t got it.”
Despite officially retiring 15 years ago, Mr Vasilis regularly cuts the hair of members of the Cypriot community in his little shop for no charge.
He says they might buy him a drink later as payment in kind, but he doesn’t expect it.
Despite suffering health scares that would spell the end of some careers — he’s been battling prostate cancer and had a seizure two years ago — he says the work is nothing he can’t handle.
Kyriakos Vasilis cuts hair for his friends at the Cyprus Community Club. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)
“If it was physically demanding, I wouldn’t be doing it,” Mr Vasilis says.
ABC .NET
