This short interview series introduces the curators of The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2026. We asked them three questions in order to gain a deeper insight into their practices and an outlook on their next projects. The third edition of The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Identity Card takes place from October 8 - November 11, 2026 across New York City.

In partnership with The Immigrant Artist Biennial

What are some of the unique opportunities and challenges in curating time-based art? 

Curating time-based work involves considering factors beyond the work itself, as well as the revelations and responses it elicits. Attention, space, and audience are highly competitive. The process and execution reflect the artist's goals, anticipated outcomes, and potential acknowledgments along the way. At times, the process is considerable; for others, it is about the moment, the performance at the moment, but for others the work is the results, the conclusions, or lingering questions. As a curator, I am learning from the artists, advising and pairing, but most importantly, witnessing.

What are you working on next?

I am looking forward to the robust programming with Transmitter; we are a collaborative curatorial initiative based in Brooklyn. Since 2014, we’ve produced multidisciplinary, international, and experimental exhibitions. Our program also includes the TNT Residency, an open call residency for visual artists. At the core, I am looking forward to a year of studio visits and readings as I prepare for an exhibition in 2027.

The poem “Identity Card” by Mahmoud Darwish inspired the title for this edition of The Immigrant Artist Biennial. What is another poem that nurtures you in your work?

These two lines always resonate with me: 

“Let’s honor the maker. 
Let’s honor what’s made.”
– From “Honoring” Joy Harjo’s An American Sunrise 

It’s from a much longer poem in her collection, An American Sunrise. Joy Harjo entwines poetic beauty with the history of displacement, survival, and the history of Indigenous peoples, her own family, and resilience. For my curatorial practice and thought process, poetry is central. It’s an exercise in creative thinking that formulates outside the box and aids in creating connections from the visual to sound, time, and performance. I’ve often returned to foundational poems and texts because they reflect my values and show me how to work with artists, ask questions, and extend their ideas beyond a work and into conversation. 

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​.
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