--- description: For the new generation of Vietnamese, the war is a distant memory. title: A Photographer's Personal Look at Vietnam 40 Years After War image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600ffb1604ceaabf/6987ed78524fc07b67df07aa/maika-elan-13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Photographer's Personal Look at Vietnam 40 Years After the War by [Alice Gabriner](/author/alice-gabriner/) and [Ye Ming](/author/ye-ming/) Apr 30, 2015 8:00 AM CUT  An image of my father resting on a cardboard in Lenin Park, overlaid by an image of an ferris wheel at the water park of Hanoi, August, 2013. An image of my father resting on a cardboard in Lenin Park, overlaid by an image of an ferris wheel at the water park of Hanoi, August, 2013.Maika Elan by [Alice Gabriner](/author/alice-gabriner/) and [Ye Ming](/author/ye-ming/) Apr 30, 2015 8:00 AM CUT Today, Vietnam commemorates the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which led to the unification of the country. But the war that killed more than three million people has now become a distant past for a new generation of Vietnamese, including photographer Maika Elan, whose personal photographs reveal a unique look at life inside contemporary Vietnam. “Americans and Vietnamese still have different perceptions of the war,” Elan tells TIME. “While America \[is\] still busy with so many other wars, Vietnam is no longer a battlefield. It’s a really peaceful country now.” Born more than a decade after the conflict had ended, Elan only experienced it through photographs and motion pictures. Her father, although having endured the brutality of war, seldom talked about it but taught his daughter how to “overcome difficulties rather than lamenting or complaining about \[the past\],” she says. “In my heart, he is always a happy person and full of optimism.” However, when her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2013, Elan suddenly felt that their roles had been switched. She became his caretaker, and often brought him to the playgrounds and zoos they used to visit when she was a child. There, using a film camera, she double-exposed portraits of her father with landscape photographs she had previously shot, in the hopes of keeping him motivated through his treatment and to encourage him to enjoy nature again. Elan’s father has since recovered and returned to work, but Elan continues to photograph personal projects anchored around her family and friends when she is not making editorial or commercial work. In the trivial moments of life she captured in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, we no longer recognize the country where so many images from the war remind us of a sad history. She believes, by documenting human-interest stories on a smaller scale, it could help paint a larger image of a country born out of war. [**_Maika Elan_**](http://www.mostartists.com/artists/maika-elan/ "undefined")_has previously won a World Press Photo award for The Pink Choice, a pioneering photo essay that offers an intimate look into the lives of L.G.B.T. couples still stigmatized in her country._ **_Alice Gabriner_**_, who edited this photo essay, is a senior international photo editor at TIME._ **_Ye Ming_** _is a contributor to TIME LightBox. Follow her on_ [_Twitter_](http://twitter.com/yemingphoto "undefined") _and_ [_Instagram_](http://instagram.com/blackeyeyese "undefined")_._  Hanoi's street in an afternoon in May, 2010. Maika Elan  The image of my father lying on the lawn of Bach Thao park, Hanoi, is overlaid by a picture of sunset at the mountains of Da Lat, Viet Nam, August, 2013. Maika Elan  A bedroom decorated with flowers in an apartment located in Hanoi's old quarter, Feb. 1, 2010. Maika Elan  A portrait of my husband. Maika Elan  People gather to exercise in an early morning at Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, August, 2011. Maika Elan  A room decorated with colorful lanterns in an old house in Hanoi, Sept. 9, 2009. Maika Elan  A family watches television in its house located in the old quarter of Hanoi, Dec. 20, 2010. Maika Elan  A wall decorated with paintings and potted plants in Hanoi, March 23, 2010. Maika Elan  An artist's living room in Hanoi, March 23, 2010. Maika Elan  An elderly man sleeps while his son reads newspaper in their tiny room in Hanoi, March 23, 2010. Maika Elan  A father and his son arrange flowers together in Hanoi, March 17, 2009. Maika Elan  An artist's warehouse at the end of an alley in Hanoi, March 17, 2009. Maika Elan  An image of my father resting on a cardboard in Lenin Park, overlaid by an image of an ferris wheel at the water park of Hanoi, August, 2013. Maika Elan  My friend, Ha Dang, a model and designer, July 11, 2012. Maika Elan  A view of a gardner's house near the Red River of Hanoi, 2014. Maika Elan  Two young girls riding a motorbike on the street of Hanoi, February, 2014. 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