PROJECT MIMPI

Written by. Ms. Selphie Bong (@ms.sbong)

16 December 2020

This 2020 is surely a great lesson learnt for everyone, including us, as a brand and an individual. We witnessed great sadness, great happiness and great acceptance of things that we need to let go and hold onto.

Throughout my 14 years of career, I come to think that our life is like a process of knitting a sweater. The one ruling the universe is the one who created the pattern, so each one that has or is going to cross path with us, is like a thread that is being knitted. Some of the thread may be broken and some are used to create flowers or special pattern in that sweater. Nothing is a coincidence.

When we were first introduced to Vanessa Wijaya, she was an 18 year old girl with Cerebral Palsy. She has difficulty walking and communicating.

As a designer, we are taught to pay attention to every little detail. We could even notice a single thread hanging on a clothing 5 meters away or easily hear the sound of loose beads.

One thing I notice about Vanessa was her eyes, the shine in her eyes while she looked at her mother. Pure innocent eyes, filled with unconditional love.

You can just feel it. The overflowing love as if I am sitting on a packed opera watching “Turandot” and witnessing Nessun Dorma right in front of my eyes. I acted awkward right away, simply because as an adult, we sometimes are expected not to show our emotions. Normally, we have this sense of pride when we talk about love, but this, it was pure innocence.
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Project Mimpi started with a goal to build awareness about people around us living with a disability yet still are able to achieve their dreams. But what we have learnt during the process of this project is a lot more than that. Compassion will never be enough, it needs to be overflowing with empathy. Perfection is just superficial, what truly matters is the effort and the heart put into it.

May we live with more kindness and care towards one another, regardless what shine and color we are living with. Putting aside pride and seeing others more deeply. May we all live a life that is filled with gratitude, love and sincerity without expectations.

Much Love,
Selphie Bong


Thanks to a group of compassionate people who has contributed to making this shoot happen.

Photographer - Jessica Tri Putri
Videographer - Phillo Tioman
Make Up Artist - Jung Vonny
Advisor - J. Kenneth

Parents of Vanessa
Ibu Eltin & Bapak Rudy
Credit to Ibu Susan from Sensory.lab for the introduction

and Selphie Bong Team; Sekar and Erna and all the shooting