H.O.P.E CAMBODIA
× SOMA GROUP

“INSPIRE AND DRIVE POSITIVE IMPACT”

Soma Group’s mission — “Inspire and drive positive impact in society through sustainable solutions” — is not a tagline. It’s the architecture of H.O.P.E Cambodia.

Under LCT Krasna Cham’s leadership — first female CEO of a major Cambodian group, WEF Young Global Leader 2020 — Soma has built a CSR engine, Soma Initiative, structured around three pillars that align precisely with H.O.P.E.

H.O.P.E puts the faces of those children — now adults — on the walls of the country Soma helped build.

10 DIMENSIONS

H.O.P.E is not a photo book. It’s a transmedia ecosystem where each dimension reinforces the others — social impact multiplies artistic visibility, and vice versa.

THREE LOOPS. ZERO WASTE.

H.O.P.E proposes a circular model where nothing is lost and everything serves the community:

Loop 1 — Art: Monumental portraits installed on bamboo structures across 3 Siem Reap provincial roads (NR6 East, NR66, road to Tonlé Sap) + building facades in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Visible, transformative, inescapable.

Loop 2 — Infrastructure: Each billboard structure is engineered from day one as a demountable shelter. After 4-5 months of exhibition, the structures are dismantled and reassembled as Peace Houses for the poorest families — via Life & Hope Association’s existing housing program in 5 villages around Siem Reap.

Loop 3 — Education: All mesh banners are sent to LHA’s Sewing School at Wat Damnak, where they become school bags and pencil cases — distributed to children in CFC’s 21 schools, orphanages, street schools, and Sunrise Cambodia centres across Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Materials: PVC-free polyester mesh (OEKO-TEX certifiable) + certified sublimation inks. Safety-testable at Hohenstein Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

No other art project in the world has converted its exhibition infrastructure into permanent housing. Art becomes shelter. Images become school bags. Others recycle material. We recycle meaning.

SOMA’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY STORY

HOW SOMA PARTICIPATES

Everything listed below is something Soma already operates. The partnership activates what exists.

RISKS & MITIGATION

A 20-year project with monumental installations across 9 provinces requires serious risk management. Here are the three most critical risks — and how each is addressed before it becomes a problem.

IDENTIFIED PARTNERS

H.O.P.E connects with an established ecosystem of organizations already active in Cambodia. Each partner brings a specific capability to the project:

THE VOICE OF CAMBODIA

Every installation carries a message. Not an imported quote. Not a Western slogan. The voice of Cambodia itself.

A curated collection of authentic Cambodian citations — traditional Khmer proverbs, 12th-century inscriptions from Jayavarman VII’s hospital steles at Angkor, poetry from Krom Ngoy, lyrics from Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea, contemporary voices like Vaddey Ratner and Loung Ung.

On a school wall: “A child has two wings: good education and good manners.”
On a hospital wall: “He suffered the illnesses of his subjects more than his own.” — Jayavarman VII
On a rural billboard: “Don’t lie down and wait for luck. You have to work hard.”

Mix of portraits: children of 2007 now adults + children of today. The proverbs work for both generations.

800 years of Cambodian wisdom on the walls of Cambodia’s future.

SIX WALLS. THREE ROADS. ONE STORY.

PHNOM PENH — Phase 1 (Sommet, November 2026)

SIEM REAP — Phase 2 (April-May 2027, 20th Anniversary)

Phase 2 also includes 15-20 new facades in Phnom Penh + 10-15 facades in Siem Reap (hotels, institutions, public buildings).
Each billboard: bamboo structure, monumental portrait, Khmer proverb, solar LED lighting. After exhibition: structure becomes a Peace House, mesh becomes school bags & pencil cases.

THE ARC

LUDOVIC CAZEBA

French fine art documentary photographer. Photography since November 2004. 20+ years of professional photography.

The 2007 Cambodia photographs received an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards. In 2008, the work led to Photo Art Asia — a charity exhibition where 100% of profits went to HIV-positive children in Thailand.

“Not to photograph what sells anymore. To photograph what matters.”