TITLE: THE LONELY MONK

Early in the morning, monks are on the way to the lunch at the Mahagandayon Monastery in Amarapura, near the city of Mandalay in Myanmar. As a thousand monks move towards the donors to receive the morning meal, only a young novice monk stands still in the moving human tide.

AUTHOR: Thierry SUZAN (France)

Thierry Suzan is a French journalist, photographer, writer and lecturer. After studying history, he graduated in journalism and traveled the globe for over two decades. He has done assignment work and has been published in numerous national and international publications including National Geographic, GEO and the New York Times. His writing and powerful images evoking people and landscapes from all over the world combine the beauty of the planet with the intelligence of discovery.
Thierry has written several books including Vertige Polaire, Beauty will save the World and his newest monograph, Peninsula published by National Geographic. The prestigious American institution thus brought him into the small circle of photographers to whom it devoted an entire book.
In order to catch the perfect moment on film, he avoids the use of pre-preparation or staged organization and instead seeks to capture life’s spontaneity and ephemeral beauty. For him, the purity of the moment must never be altered by artificial, technical needs. Guided by innovative vision, a love of nature and a spirit without compromise, Thierry is convinced that poetry remains the sovereign dimension of photography.
At the International Conference on Climate (COP21), he was invited to display the largest photograph in the world (1200 m2 surface area), which was taken in Antarctica, and covered the arched ceiling of Strasbourg train station.
Aware of environmental issues and essential challenges, warned of the wounds of the planet, the author opposes to the cassandres a stubborn and enlightened refusal of despair. He sincerely believes in the power of the imagination to nourish the seed of everyone’s ecological conscience. In the conformism of an illusory artistic life, against the backdrop of prophecies of the end of the world, Thierry Suzan, a relentless dreamer of a world that is moving, shows unfailing optimism and aspires to the luminous future of humanity.