Held 1n Between

Held 1n Between

In 2025, the Trump administration announced a proposed $100,000 entry fee per H-1B worker, causing chaos for millions for visa holders, intensifying an already punishing system that traps immigrants in years, sometimes decades, of bureaucratic limbo.

Held 1n Between is a self-portrait series that documents the existence of H-1B visa holders in America, reflecting on waiting, stillness, displacement and power dynamics of current immigration climate in America.

As a Chinese-born queer artist navigating this uncertainty, I have lived in a decade-long queue for permanent residency as nonresident alien, filling out immigration papers I couldn’t count. 

Each photograph restaged the emotional labor of paperwork. The teapot, a compact travel set gifted by my father due to my absence at home, resembles the family milestones, illnesses and loss I could not return home to witness throughout the years. 

By turning bureaucracy into ritual, Held 1n Between exposes the quiet absurdity of a system that defines worth by documentation. It is a portrait not only for one, but for those who stil remain waiting, surviving, and still making meaning within impossible borders. It serves as a opportunity to shine light on this issue on H1B visa workers in America.