[Cathedral School for Boys] An exhibition at Grace Cathedral is bringing together Bay Area students and internationally recognized artists to explore the histories of immigration, forced migration, and the enduring human search for freedom and belonging. Titled Crossing Borders, the exhibition features artwork by Grade 4 and Grade 8 students from Cathedral School for Boys, alongside works by artists Carl Heyward, Mia Chambers, and Bea Last. The installation invites visitors to reflect on how movement across borders — whether chosen or forced — has shaped human lives and societies.
Many of the student works draw inspiration from the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay, often called the “Ellis Island of the West.” Nearly one million immigrants passed through the station in the early 20th century, many of them detained for weeks or months while undergoing legal and medical examinations. Through research, interviews, and artistic interpretation, Cathedral School students explored the experiences of immigrants who arrived in California seeking opportunity, refuge, and a new life.
At the center of the exhibition is Carl Heyward’s The Slave Ships, a monumental work confronting the Atlantic slave trade. The installation incorporates a 400-year-old slave ship schematic layered onto a reflective metallic surface, inviting viewers to see themselves reflected in the history it depicts.
Nearby, Mia Chambers’s Cotton Pickin’ Cakewalk features a towering ten-layer sculptural “King Cotton” cake surrounded by smaller cakes representing cotton in various stages of growth. Drawing on the history of the cakewalk — a dance tradition developed by enslaved Africans on plantations — the installation reflects on the domestic slave trade and the cultural resilience that emerged in the face of oppression.
The exhibition also includes The Baby Shoes/Lost Voices, an installation by Scottish sculptor Bea Last composed of worn baby shoes arranged inside a transparent vessel. The work evokes the silenced voices of those lost to genocide and oppression while prompting reflection on the persistence of injustice across generations.
Student work forms a central part of the exhibition. Fourth-grade students contributed pieces from the school’s Journey Project, in which students interview migrants in their own communities, research immigrants who passed through Angel Island, and create multimedia suitcase displays representing those journeys. Eighth-grade students created artworks inspired by poems carved into the wooden walls of the Angel Island detention barracks by immigrants held there in the early 20th century.
For some students, the project connected directly to their own family histories. “The clock in my painting is based on my great-grandfather’s watch,” said Stanley Rzad, a Grade 8 student artist whose work appears in the exhibition. “He immigrated from Poland and worked for Ford for 30 years. I wanted the piece to show the passage of time at Angel Island and the sacrifices immigrants make for future generations.”
During the opening reception on March 13, Grade 4 student Luke Landau reflected on interviewing his mother about her journey immigrating from Vietnam to the United States. “I carry a story on my back that not every kid does,” Landau said.
The exhibition was organized by Will Jaggers, Upper School visual arts teacher at Cathedral School for Boys and a member of The Global Art Project. “When I first saw the Grade 4 Journey Project, I thought the work was so powerful it belonged in a museum,” Jaggers said. “That idea grew into Crossing Borders, bringing our students’ work into conversation with artists from around the world.”
Crossing Borders is open to the public at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street in San Francisco, through Thursday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
