TITLE: The sound of silence

It is late September 2024. I have the privilege and rare opportunity of spending 72 hours immersed amongst the 13 monks of the Cîteaux Abbey, which is situated near Troyes in France. Founded in 1098 Cîteaux Abbey is the birthplace of the Cistercian order and continues to live by the principles of austerity and discipline that have shaped monastic life up until the present. Life here is dictated by 3 pillars: prayer, reading and labor.

During my stay I was to live according to the rhythm imposed by the Rule of Saint Benedict. Each day begins before dawn and unfolds through seven religious offices, periods of reading, and manual work. Silence structures every moment. Words are few, gestures become a language. In this time capsule everything slows down, defined not by productivity but by repetition and continuity.

Architecture plays a central role in this story. Corridors, staircases, and communal spaces shape movement and reinforce a way of life based on order and restraint.

My intention was to document not only religious ritual, but to portrait this disappearing community. Here all manual works serves a purpose as the monks live in full autonomy. Meals are shared in near silence while a monk reads aloud, dishes washed by hand, regardless of hierarchy. In the dairy, the monks produce their own cheese through collective organization, echoing the same discipline that governs their spiritual life.

This photographic project was originally commissioned to raise awareness about the urgent need to restore the abbey’s historic buildings. Through black-and-white documentary photography, I sought to preserve the memory of a fragile heritage and to bear witness to a way of life that quietly resists the constant acceleration of modern society.

AUTHOR: Antoine Monié (France)

I cherish the idea that the extraordinary can arise at any moment—and that it may be captured in a photograph, revealing how art resides everywhere, at the very heart of reality and life itself.

I grew up in a family attuned to the arts. My grandfather painted; my uncle photographed the culinary arts for magazines; my mother attended art school; and it was my father who first taught me how to use his Canon FTb. It was then that I discovered the sensation of the shutter release beneath my fingertip, heard the shutter claim its fragment of light, and felt the camera body tremble in my hand.

Though deeply passionate about science and the living world, I chose to pursue studies in biology and became a biotechnology engineer. When I returned to photography, at the very moment it was becoming digital, the passion resurfaced with force. I immersed myself in its technique, practiced relentlessly, and sought to understand what animates the great photographers. My own work gradually embraced minimalism: I refined my compositions and strove to suspend the timeless within the frame. Photography gave meaning to my life; at last, I felt entirely myself.

I began with weddings, which brought me immense joy. Yet my engineer’s curiosity soon drew me back into the world of business. Fascinated by technology and processes, I found a new wellspring of inspiration in industry. I photographed human ingenuity, portraying dedicated professionals—particularly within the fields of energy and public lighting. I help my clients give visual form to their corporate values. Translating concepts and ideas into images is a challenge I particularly relish.

Three years after meeting Louis, and following a decade as an independent photographer, we founded the Brunet-Monié agency in 2021. Louis introduced me to documentary photography, and we resolved to unite our strengths and inspirations, convinced that it offers businesses a more authentic nourishment—becoming not merely a communication tool, but the true expression of their identity. Today, we help our clients build a visual heritage that bears witness, year after year, to who they are and what they stand for.