Global ART Project: The Collaborative Future
Crossing Borders: We Are All Immigrants
Curated by Global ART Project Founders Carl Heyward and Akiko Suzuki
With Co-Curators Mikel Frank and Joanne Rogers
Presented at
Westbeth Gallery, New York City | October 25-November 10, 2024
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Nine Eighteen Nine Studio Gallery Charlotte, North Carolina | November 16, 2024 – January 4, 2025
The Connecting Force of Curator and Artist Carl Heyward
Carl Heyward, founder of The Global Art Project (GAP), an international collaborative social art practice, will curate two exhibitions in New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina beginning in October 2024 running through January 2025.
In the latest group show curated by Carl Heyward, ‘Crossing Borders: We Are All Immigrants’, 60 artists from 19 countries address a range of concerns from the obvious red button topic areas implied in the title, and also give expression to personal, gender based and psychological barriers that deserve acknowledgement. Heyward’s generosity of thought and inclusion is a clearing in a world and at a time when fears of the ‘other’ can seem to create isolating boundaries.
Heyward states it this way, “Institutions, be they social, political, governmental, familial, any ‘the established order’ is but a body of opinions, albeit with great clout, but a bully has clout till one stands for and on their own truths and insists upon the individuality and authenticity of one’s own true self.”
Being presented for the first time in these exhibitons, will be Heyward’s installation, ‘The Slave Ships’, (1000 square feet) addressing the Atlantic Slave Trade. The monumental new work crosses the border of time, through the use of a 400 year old slave ship schematic drawing overlaid on a mirror finish metallic gold background.
This installation incorporates the uncannily alluring ‘Cotton Pickin’ Cake Walk’ by multidimensional artist, chef and choreographer Mia Chambers of Oakland, California.
With elements such as the towering 10-layer King Cotton cake, this dual collaboration powerfully centers the exhibition.
Pickaninnie (61”x33”x33”, acrylic paint on foam with dried cotton bolls, wire and metal crown, 2024) by Mia Chambers 
“It’s Good To Be Home” (2023, 50’x36”, wood, thread) by Katie Korotzer 
Rocky Promontory (mixed media on canvas, 36”x24”) by Valerie Corvin
GAP, The Global Art Project, in its ten plus years of existence has connected artists working in a wide range of mediums. Through textiles, paint, wood, photography and more, artists such as Somnabulist D-Shahab, Oluwanbe Amodu, Nancy Hom, Macha Melanie, Lee Ko, Julio Gonzalez take the viewer on a journey through time, emotion, and physical reality.
Co-curator and Nine Eighteen Nine gallery owner Joanne Roberts, describes art as a bridge; a universal language and safe space in which to explore. She writes that her work in the exhibition, ‘The American’, “seeks to show that the only true definition of an American is that we have all crossed many borders. We are all immigrants.”
In curating this exhibition, Roberts’ goal has been “to be a storyteller and to provide spaces to foster emotional growth and meaningful conversations”.
Continuing with the idea of navigation and connection, Akiko Suzuki, co-curator and exhibiting artist, writes, “I am convinced that this exhibition will allow us to sense something like a connection at a conscious level that lies deeper than uncontrollable, unpredictable and superficial human relationships”.
Crossing Borders: We Are All Immigrants is a special and well timed exhibition connecting a wide range of international presenting artists and their work which encourages the crossing of boundaries and borders necessary for navigating the world.