Cyril Costilhes has a very unique relationship to Diego Suarez, the location where he shot his dark photoseries, ‘Grand Circle Diego’. A little over 10 years ago, his father moved there to run a casino, but was returned to France after a tragic motorcycle accident that caused him front lobe dementia, placing him in a coma. Costilhes saw his father’s move as an attempt to start fresh, lured by the beauty of the young women and environment. To Costilhes, his father’s aspirations were an illusion, and one shared by many white western men in a similar position. The reality of Diego Suarez is one of desperation, where people of privilege go to seek asylum in a false paradise, and the inhabitants seek salvation through the refugees of reality.

Since the book is about him revisiting an old environment of his I thought it would be an interesting link to my project based on my personal environments. I want to focus on how Cyril had put these images together in a way that creates a narrative.

When I search for images of Diego Suarez on google, I come across an idyllic seaside town.

This is a strong contrast to the images produced by Costilhes. His experience of the town is of his father, and he travelled there to resolve the ghosts that still hang over him as his father remains in a coma. The story of his father is of somewhat a dark irony; he left France after a failed marriage to look for a new life in what was seemingly a paradise of freedom. This elusive idea of a new perfect life in this paradise was supported by how free and beautiful the place looked, however it sadly ended up in a helmet-less motorbike accident due to a hole in the road.

The photoseries is compiled as a book, and Costilhes writes about his time spent in Diego Suarez. He imagines the moments leading up to his father’s crash:

“What was his last clear, clean thought right before the crash?! Was he daydreaming about the girl he was going to f^*k next, `daydreaming about his new house on the beach of Ramena, or about the money he was going to make by reselling that ambitious hotel in construction, about what he was going to do next, living in a paradise until the grandiose ending.”

His writing at the end of the book is very striking, describing the moments around his fathers crash, as well as the moment arriving back at the village in Madagascar since he left 11 years prior. He talks about the false paradise that Diego is, luring men in who want ‘fresh starts’ from their possibly miserable lives. Despite the beautiful women and beaches, Cyril saw through it as a Dystopia rather then a Utopia. He describes how people are losing their minds over the availability of power and freedom, and how their is a dense sense of colonialism spread by the western men looking for a paradise.

These are some other quotes from the book, written on the day he arrived back in Diego Suarez.

He describes how the place has not changed at all from what he remembers… Describing himself as a walking piece of meat ready to be salvaged upon by the local people.

“same bars, recycled bodies. I’m a walking piece of fresh meat. Nothing has changed.”

“I sometimes fantasize about ending it for my father. It would be a relief for everybody. I have this crazy idea of transforming this suffocating situation into something positive, something that would give sense to all this. Turn the ugly into beautiful.

First night in Diego, having a drink at La Vahinee bar, a beautiful girl sits at my table, looks straight in the eyes.

“J’aime la bite.” “

This is particularly striking as he is talking about killing his own father, however we can tell it has been said out of desperation and sympathy as he is wanting to end his suffering. This makes it such a powerful part of the text as it proves the reality of the pain his father, his family and himself have all been going through watching the man completely locked up in his body, resulting in this incredible set of dark, disturbing and mysterious images.

 

Here are some reviews I have found whilst researching that in my opinion reflect the atmosphere and emotion of the book strongly:

• “Grand Circle Diego is a dark exploration of the photographer’s ghosts, and it powerfully captures Costilhes’ quest to reconnect with his father. Through its lavish printing, elemental design, and careful editing, the book creates the ambiance of very personal catharsis, leaving most of its mysteries unrevealed.” – Olga Yatskevich on Collectors’ daily
• “Cyril confronted the demons, the grudges and probably the rage that town brought into his life. Nothing remains of the idyllic allure of Diego Suarez in his suffocating photographs – the images are extremely dark, baffling and often times even repulsive. Despite Cyril’s initial intention was to make a project of documentary nature, the work soon changed into a deeply subjective, visceral experience, a descent into the photographer’s innermost feelings, a coming to terms with a ten year-long trauma.” – Fotografia magazine
• “Buried beneath its wild undergrowth and savage natural beauty, the Madagascan town of Diego Suarez hides many secrets. In 2003, whilst riding his motorbike home from Le Grand Circle Diego casino one evening, Cyril Costilhes’ father was involved in an accident that left him crippled with front lobe dementia. As a result, just over 10 years later, Costilhes has returned to shoot the mysteries of the land that snared his father’s sanity. The French photographer recorded his findings in his new book the Grand Circle Diego – and the results are dark, twisted and startling.” – Dominique Sisley on DAZED

Cyril has taken the paradise-esque vision and flipped it upside down as an evocative result of the haunting memories of his fathers life ruining accident. As a result he created a striking representation of the place focusing on the more  features of life there such as the mysterious looking people looking fearful and isolated, abandoned buildings, abstract images of flesh and vegetation along with the many other disturbingly interesting photographs within. Below you can see a selection of images that I have made, all of some of my personal environments (places I feel safe, comfortable, familiar with) that I feel link with Cyril’s work. I have more frequently tried making my images contrast’ stronger to produce darker blacks and lighter highlights, similar to Cyril’s style of images.