H.O.P.E CAMBODIA
× SOMA GROUP
In 2007, photographer Ludovic Cazeba documented 350+ children across Cambodia — orphanages, street schools, floating villages, hospitals. In 2027, he returns to find them. This is a proposal for Soma Group to become the strategic partner of a project that will put Cambodia on the international art and social impact map.
“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.
Same Year as H.O.P.E
Leader — Krasna Cham
Puthisastra Students
for Installations
Free to schools & orphanages
Trilingual: Khmer · English · French
with UP Dentistry Students
Facades → 11,600+ School Bags
Zero Waste · 100% Communities
SOMA’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY STORY
Visibility
Impact Narrative
HOW SOMA PARTICIPATES
Everything listed below is something Soma already operates. The partnership activates what exists.
THE VOICE OF CAMBODIA
Every installation carries a message. Not an imported quote. Not a Western slogan. The voice of Cambodia itself.
44 authentic Cambodian citations researched and compiled — 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 public facade: “Genuine gold does not fear fire.”
800 years of Cambodian wisdom on the walls of Cambodia’s future.
ART THAT BECOMES EDUCATION
After 3-6 months on the wall, every square metre of mesh is decommissioned and transformed into school bags and pencil cases by local sewing schools in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Each child receives a kit carrying a fragment of the original artwork — a portrait and a Khmer proverb.
Materials: PVC-free mesh (Kavalan Spiderweb 300, REACH-compliant) + OEKO-TEX certified inks (Mimaki Sb300). Safety-tested at Hohenstein Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Safe for children’s skin contact.
No other monumental art project in the world has been designed for a complete circular lifecycle. This is the first.
SIX WALLS. SIX STORIES.
THE ARC
“This project does not ask for money. It does not ask for permission. It asks: how does Soma Group want to participate in this story?”
LUDOVIC CAZEBA
French fine art documentary photographer. Photography since November 2004. Based in Saint-Tropez, France. 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.”
THE ONLY QUESTION IS HOW SOMA’S NAME
ENTERS THE HISTORY OF THIS PROJECT.
Start the Conversation
ludo@cazeba.com