Talks
In Conversation with M+ Hong Kong
Suhanya Raffel, Kamini Sawhney
M+ Building, Image credit: Kitmin Lee, Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
This episode of MAP’s series Director’s Cut features Suhanya Raffel, Director of M+ Hong Kong.
With some of the world’s foremost collections of twentieth and twenty-first century visual culture, and its monumental building, M+ is rooted in Asia but defined, developed, and examined from a global perspective. Since joining the institution as its Director in 2019, Suhanya Raffel has led the museum’s vision, broadening its international reach and championing its deep connection with its local community. Over the last six years her focus has been on delivering and sustaining an institution while facing a range of challenges that include a pandemic, social unrest, supply chain interruptions, travel restrictions, managing local and global expectations in the face of ensuring curatorial integrity and excellence as the base benchmark of the museum’s work.
The Director’s Cut series, anchored by MAP’s Director, Kamini Sawhney, offers a glimpse into how the institution of the museum is being reimagined and reinvented today and presents a unique opportunity to hear from reputed practitioners in museums around the world as they reflect on their institutional experiences, behind-the-scenes challenges, unique initiatives, and more.
Suhanya Raffel
Director, M+ Hong Kong
Prior to joining M+, Suhanya Raffel was the Deputy Director and Director of Collections at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney (2013–16) Australia, and held many senior curatorial positions, including Deputy Director of curatorial and collection development from 2010 and Acting Director in 2012 at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (1994-2013) Australia. She was awarded the title of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2020 and the 2022 Sydney University Alumni Achievement Awardee for Cultural Contribution, Sydney, Australia.
Kamini Sawhney
Director, Museum of Art & Photography
As the Museum of Art & Photography’s (MAP) first Director, Kamini Sawhney has brought together a young, inspired team that is focused on creating a new museum experience for audiences in India. In leading this founding team, Sawhney has helped shape a vision for MAP that seeks to inspire people to interact with art in ways that encourage humanity, empathy and a deeper understanding of the world we live in. She has been a vocal ambassador for MAP presenting the institution’s plans and aspirations at various fora including the India Art Fair, at workshops at the CSMVS, Mumbai (Museums and the City), the Bangalore Literary Festival and the Bangalore International Centre.
In her earlier role, Kamini was the head of the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation – one of the premier private collections of Modern Indian Art, at the CSMVS, Mumbai, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum. Bringing institutions together in collaborative projects has been one of her special skills enabling audiences in India the opportunity to enjoy several exhibitions in collaboration with Tate, London, Foam, Amsterdam, the Duke University, Durham, the KNMA, New Delhi and more. Sawhney was selected as one of the first candidates for the Brooks fellowship at Tate Modern, London in 2014 in collaboration with the Delfina Foundation. In a previous avatar as journalist and television anchor, Kamini was the Bureau Chief of NDTV, Mumbai one of India’s leading news channels where she reported on her whole range of events both political and cultural.
