Love Stories from Vietnam – Maika Elan
Maika Elan and her World Press Photo award winning photo story ‘The Pink Choice’ played was a very special attraction of Pondy Photo 2014 which commenced on 21 March and continued till 6 April.
Van Hung selects music to play as he and Quoc Ngan relax at the end of the day
Maika Elan shares that she wanted to show her vision of these people, rather than how they see themselves. She regards love as something beautiful and she believes that we can only be truly supportive of homosexuality by accepting their love and seeing it as beautifully as it naturally is.
Maika Elan, a.k.a Nguyen Than Hai got her BA in Sociology from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities after which she started taking pictures of daily and personal life. In 2010, Maika Elan moved to documentary photography. Her first project ‘The Pink Choice’ won first prize for contemporary issues at World Press Photo in 2013.
In 2012, her first solo exhibition was hosted at Goethe Institute, Hanai. The Pink Choice is represented by MoST Artists. Currently she is based in Vietnam. ‘The Pink Choice’ was a part of the Delhi Photo Festival in 2013, through which this work came to be a part of Pondy Photo 2014.
Photos: Tintumon M
Tathagata Mitra
1st M.A. Mass Communication
