Las Vegasy

One afternoon in Diego-Suarez. A woman walks down a street while a child runs after her. Corrugated metal sheets, concrete blocks and unfinished buildings form the backdrop of a working-class neighbourhood in the city.
As the eye begins to explore the image, the details take on greater significance. A nearly abandoned BMW appears in the background. On a dented metal sheet, a piece of graffiti reads “Las Vegas”. Yet we are thousands of miles away from Nevada.

I did not come across many BMW E36s while working on the Gasy stories project, which took me through several towns and cities in northern Madagascar. This one seemed to have reached the end of its journey on this street in Diego-Suarez, just a few metres from this unusual piece of graffiti. An unlikely encounter that immediately caught my attention.

On one side, the reality of everyday life in Diego-Suarez. On the other, the symbols of an imported dream that seem to have washed ashore here in the form of traces, words and memories. Between the two, a child runs towards his mother, oblivious to these contrasts.