For trans and non-binary people seeking gender-affirming care, the first step is often not treatment, but a long and uncertain wait. In the Netherlands, often ranked as one of the most friendly LGBTQIA+ nations in the world, challenges are less about overt political restrictions and more about limited capacity within gender clinics, as high demand has resulted in extensive waiting lists that can range from months to years.
This reality is explored in Prins de Vos’ powerful photo series, On Hold. In the project, the photographer puts a face to some of the thousands of people currently on waiting lists, offering a raw and intimate look at their lived experiences. Alongside the portraits, participants are given the opportunity to share their own words, adding personal context to their circumstances.
At the link in bio, Gay Times speaks with photographer Prins about their journey with the project, the role photography can play in reshaping how marginalised communities are seen and more.
📸 @prinsdevos
📝 @jordyyy.02
Two more photos from my shoot for @winqnl with Mees, who financed their surgery themself. Mees had only just undergone the surgery when I was invited to photograph them.
You can read the full story in Winq. To me, it feels like a valuable extension of my ongoing project On Hold, as these images underline how important self determination and access to gender affirming care truly are.
I hope I will still witness a future in which gender affirming healthcare is accessible, properly funded, and available without years long waiting lists for the people who need it.
For the newest edition of @winqnl , I photographed Ezra, @eve.fatale and @mees.opotamie , all three of whom financed a medical procedure themselves, as part of the gender-affirming care they need, through crowdfunding or out of their own pockets.
Their stories became three beautiful and powerful portraits that underline how vital access to healthcare without endless waiting lists and bureaucratic obstacles truly is.
Thank you dear Ezra, Eve and Mees, for allowing me to photograph you. And thank you @m_kamphorst , for this incredible feature. You're the best.
Buy the new Winq to read the full stories. It is available in bookstores now.
Very honored to be part of the exhibition GENDER at @penningsfoundation with my project On Hold, alongside Celestial Bodies by the Celestial Bodies collective.
On Hold portrays trans and non-binary people who are currently on waiting lists for gender-affirming care in the Netherlands. Most wait years before even receiving a first intake.
The exhibition also features *Celestial Bodies: Queer Transformation Through Time*, an exhibition by the Celestial Bodies collective exploring queerness beyond fixed definitions, inspired by pre-colonial queer histories, spirituality, transformation and collective care.
On Hold won a World Press Photo 2025 award and was later nominated for the Zilveren Camera 2025.
Opening:
15 May 2026
17:00–19:00
Pennings Foundation
The exhibition runs until 20 June.
I will also be present at the Pennings Foundation photo book market on 23 May to sign copies of BOYS DO CRY and Enclose. See you there?
I can’t believe my photo book BOYS DO CRY is already turning four this month! There is still one special edition available with a beautiful grey and gold cover, which comes with a print of your choice. A small stack of the regular edition is also still available. prinsdevos.com/shop or link in bio. Also available through @queer_gallery_com
Thank you @live__laugh__levi , for letting us work on this together for seven years!
From 2014 to 2020, I photographed Levi frequently, mostly during crucial moments in his life, such as right after he was evicted and ended up in a small caravan, but also just days after his bottom surgery.
Although being trans is undeniably part of Levi’s identity, it is not emphasized in the series. It is Levi’s strong personality and attitude toward life that make him a deeply inspiring and powerful person.
“My future, you know, I cannot predict it
My fucking head is so fucking conflicted
I’m addicted
I know I should fix it
All options constricted
All sorts of negativity depicted
But it’s already scripted
I will always be wicked”
– Levi
BOYS DO CRY, 2022
Design: @syb_photo_books
Special edition: 150 copies (1 left)
Normal edition: 350 copies
New addition to my Studio Selection: Polaroid, 2014.
1/1, €250, signed
The works from my Studio Selection are directly available because they are already printed and stored in my studio. Each piece is part of a limited edition and is ready to be shipped within two days.
Other works from my portfolio are available on request and will be printed to order. Keep an eye on the page, as occasionally a new (framed) print from an exhibition will appear online.
prinsdevos.com/studio-selection or link in bio
Five people I photographed this year whose lives are on hold. Last week I visited Skye (first slide), who has been waiting for 21 months. I’ve now been working on this project for 34 months, and that feels like an immense stretch of time in which so much has happened. For some of the people I photograph, after 34 months of waiting, a first appointment is still not even in sight. A bitter realization.
In the meantime, I will continue photographing, because as long as trans and non-binary people are forced into having their lives unnecessarily put on hold, I will continue making this group visible. Next month, a new exhibition will open at @penningsfoundation in Eindhoven. While social media is a powerful medium to reach many people, coming together in person and speaking about these issues is where real change and awareness can emerge. More information about the exhibition will follow.
Slide 1: Skye, she/her, 37, Uithoorn. Waiting: 21 months.
Slide 2: Aukje (left), 22, she/her, Bunnik. Waiting: 31 months. Jessie, 24, she/they, Haarlem. Waiting: 16 months.
Slide 3: Jazzy, 29, she/her, Amsterdam. Waiting: 12 months.
Slide 4: Finn, 23, he/him, Alkmaar. Waiting: 36 months.
Today I had a conversation with someone about how the world is on fire, and how, with that knowledge in the back of your mind, you still have to try to make something of it. Sometimes all that suffering weighs so heavily on me that I can’t manage it. That I can’t laugh, that I can’t keep going. That I can’t go on with the things that give me a sense of being alive: my work, spending time with loved ones, using my voice for those among us who have none.
Sometimes it simply doesn’t work, and I feel completely paralyzed. Sometimes I find myself navigating between making use of my privileges, allowing myself to enjoy that much suffering remains at a distance, and doing everything I can to do something about it. I often don’t know either. I live somewhere between despair and, perhaps against better judgment, hope.
This year, among the World Press Photo winners, there is a series about people getting married in a flooded church. Happiness and a new beginning, with their feet at the edge of the abyss. Alors on danse. For now, I’ll go along with it. Who knows about tomorrow.
From my very first photo series Enclose.
“Photographs are enclosed by frames, just as relationships are enclosed by all sort of patterns. Those patterns arise out of nothing and are raw and unpolished, but yet still tender.
Since 2012 I’ve been capturing habits and rituals between me and my boyfriend. Every day. Using an old analogue camera that one day I found at a local flea market.
In 2015 we broke up. The weight of the love that we felt for each other was too heavy. Things got too intens. These photographs represent the relationship we had.”
