Thierry Montford, passionate photographer and emblematic figure of the image in Guyana, died at the age of 65, leaving behind an invaluable visual heritage. For more than 20 years, he managed to capture, with sensitivity and rigor, the richness of a territory and the beauty of his fauna. His latest striking work, Guyana, 7,000 days in the forest, as many days spent in the heart of the Guyanese forest, was a testimony.
Arrived in Guyana in 1987, almost by chance, on the advice of a herpetologist friend, Thierry Montford no longer left her. He was rooted there, finding in this territory, far beyond the forest, a peaceful and singular atmosphere, a thousand leagues from the tumult of the Paris region where he had grown up.
Photographer, but also bookseller, iconographer, jazz passionate and former musician, Thierry Montford had several strings to his bow. However, it was behind his goal that he was most flourished. He loved the solitude of the terrain, the unpredictable lights, the feverish wait for “the” photo. For him, the animal was not only a subject, but a quest. The Jaguar, the black caiman, the lazy or the snakes, which have fascinated it since childhood, have populated its shots, like so many faces of a discreet and mysterious world.
Humble, Thierry Montford refused the label of publisher or artist, preferring to talk about his job with modesty and lightness. This is confirmed by his eldest daughter, Eva, aged 21. “ Imon Father had a lot of humor. He turned while derison and sometimes it annoyed my mother! But she always ended up smiling. ” Passionate about all the arts, Thierry Montford devoted a particular passion to the cinema. Besides, he practiced the staging … with the forest and his animals. “Staging the forest is what he preferredindicates Eva. He was always trying to make her beautiful. “
Through Plume Verte, a house he had bought with his wife and a partner in 1999, Thierry Montford broadcast his singular look, making his works omnipresent in Guyana, on postcards, in illustrated works, magazines and exhibitions.
For him, each departure on the road from Kaw or Régina was an entry into another world. He went there without noise, but with the certainty that everything could happen. Today, this world continues to live through its photos, sensitive imprints of a rare look at Guyana.
Thierry Montford will be cremated in France and his ashes dispersed according to his wishes.
He leaves his wife Suzie behind him, his two Girls, Eva, 21, and Marie, 16, as well as thousands of images that tell the Guyanese forest through her gaze imbued with sweetness and respect.
#Disappearance #Thierry #Montford #photographer #witness #Guyanese #forest
