Kicking off our talk-series at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust this year, Sri Lankan-born Suhanya Raffel will speak about curatorial practice and institution building. Suhanya will present M+, the new museum of visual culture which opened in Hong Kong in 2020, where she has been museum director since 2016. Suhanya has also been a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts since 1995, and an important advisor to our curatorial team. The event will include a brief presentation, followed by a discussion, and end with questions from the audience.

Suhanya Raffel
Museum Director, M+

Suhanya Raffel is the Museum Director of M+ in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK). Since her appointment in 2016, she has overseen all museum activities at M+, including acquisitions, programming, collections care, development, research, institutional collaborations, and museum operations. Raffel has defined the museum’s mission, broadening its international reach and championing its deep connection with the local community. Before joining M+, Raffel was the Director of Collections and then Deputy Director at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, Australia (2013–2016). She has 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, Australia (1994–2013). There, she was instrumental in building the contemporary Asia Pacific collection and led its Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Raffel is the President of CIMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (2023–2025), and she has served on the CIMAM Board since 2016. She is also a member of the Bizot Group (2021–ongoing) and a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust, Sri Lanka (1994–ongoing). She is a member of the scientific committee for the Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Turin, Italy (2023–ongoing); the International Advisory Committee of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2023–ongoing); and the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2024–ongoing). She was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2020 and the Sydney University Alumni Achievement Award for Cultural Contribution in 2022.