مهسا بیگلو-I was once Sisyphus
a letter from an alien relative
A Letter from an Alien Relative is part of my observational video series. I immigrated to the United States in 2017, and through this work, I share my perspective as an outsider. With a touch of humor, I draw attention to the formal language used by the USCIS to describe immigrants. I’m particularly interested in the linguistic and emotional weight of bureaucratic terms, how words like “alien” and “naturalization” reveal both distance and desire for belonging. By unpacking this vocabulary, I explore how language itself shapes our understanding of identity, otherness, and citizenship.