Oh, the glorious power of imagination!
Luka is a 12-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy. He is confined to a wheelchair and only capable of tiny, weak movements with his fingers. Even simple activities like eating and using the bathroom are beyond him.
But Luka has an active imagination. And one day he told his psychologist, Slovenian Matej Peljhan (who also happens to be a photographer), that he wished he could see himself in a photo: walking, running, and getting up to all kinds of boy-like mischief.
Peljhan works with children with special needs, and understands the challenges they face better than many. He was injured himself as a child in an accident with explosive devices left behind after World War II.
Peljhan came up with an idea to shift the perspective, to help grant the little boy his wish. Together they created “Le Petit Prince,” a joyful, adventurous series of photographs based on Luka’s own drawings, that put him inside his best dreams and depict him doing what he will never be able to experience in real life.
I wrote to Peljhan and he very kindly gave me permission to share some of the photographs with you here.
Doesn’t this make you want to cry and smile at the same time?
Cry and smile at the same time, yes….. Beautiful boy.
Thanks Dani. (Don’t worry about the double comment. There’s just a delay because I approve comments to weed out the spam).
This is beautiful. My son thinks Luka is so cool, he loves Luka skating the best. Especially the way Luka’s scarf is blowing behind him! He believes Matej is cool for giving Luka a gift in imagination!
I agree with your son. Luka and Matej are both pretty cool!