Suhanya Raffel Navigates Challenges as Director of M+ Museum

Suhanya Raffel, director of M+ in Hong Kong, has faced a career's worth of challenges in the five years since the museum's opening. Raffel, recognized on the 2026 TIME100 Art List, has steered the institution, which focuses on visual and digital culture, through significant hurdles.

M+ opened in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Raffel has contended with increasing government censorship and a funding crisis. She has consistently defended the importance of artistic independence while operating under Hong Kong's national security law, which prohibits content deemed critical of China's government.

Despite these challenges, Raffel has made progress in boosting private fundraising, with M+ securing HKD130,000,000 (approximately $16.6 million) in 2025. This increased private support is crucial amid declining public funding and heightened scrutiny in Hong Kong.

Raffel has also worked to establish M+'s global standing. She has overseen 15 major collaboration agreements designed to foster ongoing exchanges of resources and research. These partnerships include recent deals with the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The collaboration with the Centre Pompidou involves commissioning new art and presenting a series of exhibitions in Hong Kong beginning next year.