Photo: Ariel Diaz. Courtesy of The Immigrant Artist Biennial

The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB) has announced the appointment of Sanna Almajedi, currently serving as performance curator at e-flux and co-curator of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Sofia Thiệu D’Amico and Eva Mayhabal Davis, both co-directors at Transmitter, and Anna Khimasia, an independent curator and co-founder of International Arrivals, to co-curate the biennial’s third edition to be held in October-November 2026.

The third edition of TIAB will take the form of a programmatic framework. The four curators were selected by Katya Grokhovsky, Founding Artistic Director, and Anna Mikaela Ekstrand, Associate Director, in recognition of their scholarly and professional expertise in curating performance, sound, and video art, as well as their demonstrated leadership within artistic communities and sustained commitment to immigrant artists. “This change reflects my broader intention: to create spaces for gathering, mutual support, and social collective interaction at a time when it's most needed. We are focusing on public-facing events such as screenings, panels, talks, performances, and other forms of programming that encourage dialogue and connection,” comments Katya Grokhovsky, TIAB Founding Artistic Director.

Given the harsh political climate for immigrants—the expansion of ICE, an increase in RFEs for O1 visas, surveillance, uncertainty, attempts at distortion and erasure—and practical challenges of securing exhibition venues transitioning the biennial to shorter format gatherings around performance, sound, video, and conversation provides an opportunity for expanded community engagement. On the curatorial process, Khimasia comments: “I am genuinely excited to work alongside the other curators, whose distinct perspectives and approaches offer intersecting lenses on art, migration, and community. The opportunity to build this exhibition collectively—through dialogue, care, and shared commitment—is especially meaningful to me.”

In 2023, curators spotlighted undocumented artists; the 2026 curators will determine their own spotlight, which will be announced with the biennial thematics.

For its 2026 edition, Shiva Gallery at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) will serve as a first-time host partner, marking the project’s inaugural partnership with an academic institution. “The Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery is proud to collaborate with the Immigrant Artist Biennial, grounded in the conviction that art can make visible the threads of experience, care, and imagination that we hold in common,” commented Macushla Robinson, the gallery’s director. This collaboration aims to develop an educational toolkit, reflecting TIAB’s recognition of the value of deeper and sustained engagement with academia in advancing the project’s curatorial and pedagogical objectives.

TIAB highlights the range of issues immigrant and diasporic artists navigate at different moments in time. The second edition of TIAB, held in 2023, showcased over 40 immigrant and diaspora artists across nine venues, including the Brooklyn Museum, Accent Sisters, and EFA Project Space, and the publishing of a Field Guide catalog. TIAB’s first edition, Here Together!, featured immigrant artists born outside of the U.S. working in the U.S. and was a hybrid online/in-person biennial, responding to the tense political climate in the country in 2020, amidst increasing isolation, accompanied by two catalogs. Biennial partners have included Center for Art Law, World Health Organization (WHO), American Immigration Council, Define American, Brooklyn Ballet, Kickstarter, Chashama, and Green-Wood Cemetery, amongst others.

Considering its future, TIAB has launched The Endowment Project together with Zeit Contemporary Art, supported by UBS, a fundraising model where artwork donations will secure its future—Kiki Smith, Felipe Baeza, Baseera Khan, and Tariku Shiferaw are among the first donors—and has applied for 501(c)3 status. TIAB continues to be fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Sanna Almajedi

Sanna Almajedi is a curator and writer based in New York, currently serving as Performance Curator at e-flux. She recently served as Performance Curator for the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Séance: Technology of the Spirit, held between August and November 2025. Almajedi co-curated Publishing Against the Grain–which was produced by Independent Curators International and toured institutions including Zeitz MOCAA and CCA, Lagos–and more recently curated Babel at SARA’S / Dunkunsthalle, Summer Dinner at Slip House, and Bricks of Memory, Fragments of Home, an online exhibition for White Columns. | @sanna.nyc

Sofia Thiệu D’Amico

Sofia Thiệu D’Amico is an independent curator, writer, and researcher based in New York and co-director of Transmitter. Her work engages social practice and poetics, with recent research focused on intercolonial solidarities and abolitionist imaginings. She previously served as assistant curator at Canal Projects and has held arts administration roles at the Vera List Center for Arts and Politics, the Isamu Noguchi Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), among others. Sofia holds an MA from Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies; her thesis research will appear in Borders of Art: Migration, Mobility and Artistic Practice (American University of Cairo Press, 2026). She has been a visiting critic at residencies including NARS Foundation, ISCP, and Brooklyn Navy Yard Studios. | @sofia.thieu

Eva Mayhabal Davis

Eva Mayhabal Davis (b. Toluca, Mexico) is a cultural advocate and curator, collaborating with artists and creatives in the production of exhibitions, texts, and events. Recent projects include the Indigenous Practice Studio (IPS) at the Queens Museum and co-curating Bronx Calling: The Bronx 5th Biennial at The Bronx Museum of Art. She is a co-director at Transmitter, a collaborative curatorial initiative in Brooklyn. Her work in advocacy and equity is rooted in Indigenous and diasporic dialogues. She is a founding member of El Salón, a creative meetup based on a soulful potluck. In 2018, she was a fellow at the Art & Law Program, in 2019, she was a fellow at the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Advocacy and the New York Foundation of the Arts Leadership Boot Camp, and in 2020, she completed the Artistic Freedom Initiative Art & Cultural Heritage Law Certificate Program. Davis is a guest working from the occupied territories of the Munsee Lenape and Canarsie. | @evamayha

Anna Khimasia

Anna Khimasia is an independent curator and has curated exhibitions and performance events in both Canada and the United States. Her curatorial projects are often collaborative and focus on underrepresented voices and histories. She was the 2023–24 AIRspace Curator-in-Residence at Abrons Arts Center and is a co-founder of International Arrivals (IA), a NYFA-sponsored project supporting artists hailing from countries in conflict. She produces and hosts the IA podcast, which features conversations with international artists about displacement, migration, and transnational belonging. Recent publications include a new essay on Harold Offeh’s early performance video work and an assistant editor role for Kambui Olujimi: North Star, Meditations on Boundlessness. She has taught courses on contemporary art and performance at Carleton University, UCLA, and Rutgers University, where she is currently a lecturer. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture (ICSLAC) at Carleton University. | @annakhimasia_art

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