Noëlle et Miguel have gone a bit ‘anywhere in the world to see if the Aplomb is the same everywhere. And, indeed, everywhere – in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in America – wherever humans have the weight of the body on the heels – in the back of the heels – it is the only possibility of being in Aplomb; we weigh as little as possible on our feet. It is the only way to carry loads – even simple daily supplies, without damaging the spine, or the feet … .. whether the load is on the head, on the shoulder, at the base of the neck, on the shoulder with the « Basél », on the shoulders with a Yoke, in the back with a pectoral band or at the bottom of the arms …. The weight falls in the back of the heel, in Banyuls, in the South of France, the only place in the world, where the band is frontal. The weight of a human being arrives – must always arrive – in the back of the heels, this requires the pelvis a deep ante version with the pubic symphysis far behind (while now, the fashion would like to position forward shortening the belly). You have to re learn how to sit almost on your thighs, verifying that you can move your hand between the bones that are in the buttocks and the chair! Our grandmothers and grandparents never leaned on the back, this was all that was done to mark the position of the head of the family; after all, most of the time, one could easily stand up or sit on the benches.

José Miguel da Fonseca, who all over the world simply called Miguel, was born in one of Setùbal’s poorest families at a time when this popular class was illiterate. His mother had tried to send him to school, but he always ran away. When I met him he was 50 years old and if he did it with the simplest accounts, enough to find himself. Later, after 50 years, he started painting while I was in Paris. He had bought 3 or 4 small jars of color, drawing shells and fish, which he had dried, with a nail and a pen of his pigeons.
And with these simple means, he was already doing wonders. One day, promising to throw it in the trash, had collected an old brush that had only a few hairs, I understood and I bought a new one. He rejoiced “now that he has given me a brush he changes everything”. What he did was so nice that I organized an exhibition in the small restaurant where we ate. He was stunned: “you are crazy, I simply enjoy myself”. The following year there was talk of an exhibition in the city and the organizer asked for paintings to hang on the wall. On my desk I put a small cardboard with one of his fish on it; and I put a pencil in his hands; he has been thinking for a long time; I saw that he was looking for ways to do but could not find it. So I took the pencil and started to outline the fish, he immediately understood: “give me – the brush, I do it”. The success of the exhibition encouraged him in his research, he painted objects and paintings ever larger … nothing scared him. Later, he mixed up everything he could do: the glued parts he placed in the center of the subject painted on the same canvas. Then he built small carts pulled by oxen or horses … finally, he enjoyed a lot doing things that, in our eyes, are wonders.