However, he managed to produce several hundred paintings secretly, using white cotton prison uniforms, as well as about a thousand drawings.
Instead, he used various objects that were available to him, including cigarette lighters, pieces of glass, plates, nets, razor blades, syringes, or simply his fingers and hands.
He was introduced in 2005 to the British Ambassador in Yangon, Vicky Bowman, who took receipt of his prison paintings and ensured their preservation by loaning them to the Burma Archives Project at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
During his time in the UK, Htein Lin undertook performance art in Trafalgar Square, central London, on 1 June 2008.
[5] He also had exhibitions and performed in Finland, France, Norway, Thailand, Czech Republic and the United States of America.
These draw on his Theravada Buddhist faith, Burmese symbols and traditions, his early experience as a comedian in "anyeint" satirical performances, and events such as Cyclone Nargis and the Saffron Revolution.
In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, he was reportedly detained in Yangon on 24 August 2022, along with his wife Vicky Bowman, and charged with immigration offences.
[12] Htein Lin has exhibited at the following solo and group shows:[1] He is married to the former British Ambassador to Myanmar, Vicky Bowman, and they have one daughter.