On this International Women’s Day, LARRY’ LIST celebrates the passionate effort contributed to the art world by every dedicated woman collector. Many of them do not only collect the artworks they love, but are also running the art world and pushing the boundaries in art — through serving in art institutions, establishing art fairs, founding new art spaces or foundations, as well as being patrons of various artistic and curatorial projects.
Continuing the effort on The Next Gen Art Collectors Report (2021), here is a non-exhaustive list of some admirable women collectors, aged from late 20s to early 40s, who are influencing, if not defining, the art scenes around them.
Maisa Al Qassimi
Dubai, UAE
@maisa_alqassimi
Senior project manager and curator at Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Maisa Al Qassimi’s collection has grown in tandem with the emerging Middle East contemporary art scene. It includes a significant selection of photography and features artists from Islamic countries, including Seydou Keïta from Mali and Hadieh Shafie from Iran.
Sarah Arison
New York, USA
@saraharison
Sarah Arison is President of Arison Arts Foundation, which supports emerging artists and related institutions through grants, and the Chair of the Board of Directors of MoMA PS1. Her art collection is a testament to the success of her grandparents’ National Young Arts Foundation, which identifies and supports the brightest of emerging artistic talents in the US. She invests in these young artists from the very beginning and then follows their work closely as they mature.
Che Xuanqiao
Beijing and Shanghai, China
@qiao_qiao_che and @macallinearts
The 29-year-old Canada-educated businesswoman founded the Macalline Art Center, an art space newly opened in January 2022 in Beijing. Its inaugural group exhibition is currently showcasing five young Chinese artists while Che Xuanqiao continues to build her growing collection of Chinese experimental art. She is not only the vice president at Red Star Macalline Group, a furniture retail giant and real estate conglomerate in China, but also a co-founder of a high-end home-furnishing brand, The Shouter.
Jessica Cinel
São Paulo, Brazil
@_._.j_e_s_s._._
Director of Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia, Jessica Cinel has an eclectic collection where Runo Lagomarsino, Ai Weiwei, Erika Verzutti, Julio Le Parc, and Kishio Suga meet. Her collection, started in 2016, is structured around notions of borders and limits, with a vision of a world without spheres. While being part of the Museu De Arte De São Paulo’s Young Patrons program, she was also the patron supporting Brazilian visual artist Paulo Nimer Pjota in an art project by DEO Projects in Greece last year.
Yan Du
Hong Kong/ London, UK
@asymmetryartorg
Having been collecting around 300 artworks for over a decade, Yan Du’s Chinese and international contemporary art collection emphasizes women artists, such as Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Georgia O’Keefe, and Sarah Lucas, to name a few. She founded the Asymmetry Art Foundation in London in 2020 as a hub for supporting curatorial practices in and about Asia. It has already organized a series of fellowships and projects in partnership with other institutions in London, including Whitechapel Gallery, Chisenhale Gallery, and Delfina Foundation.
Sabrina Ho
Macau/ Hong Kong/ New York, USA
@xsabrinahox
Sabrina Ho, daughter of the late casino magnate Stanley Ho, has initiated multiple ventures to promote art, from revamping hotels into art destinations to founding the 6075 Hotel Art Fair in Macau in support of emerging local artists, to establishing the Macanese branch of auction house Poly Auction Macau. Besides, as a strategic partner with UNESCO, she launched “You Are Next” initiative which seeks gender equality in digital creative industries in developing nations. Her collection includes works by Matthew Wong, Zao Wou-Ki, and Wu Guanzhong.
Samallie Kiyingi
Cairo, Egypt
@ms_samallie
Samallie Kiyingi’s collection is focused on elevating African (especially female) artists, which she does through institutions and through directly supporting the artists themselves. A founding member of Tate Modern’s African Art Acquisition Committee, she is also the managing director and founder of Artnaka, a private members’ platform focused on art from Africa and its diaspora. She also supports other art institutions, like Gasworks in London and the Ugandan Arts Trust.
Queenie Rosita Law
Hong Kong
@queenierositalaw and @qcontemporary
The 36-year-old collector, who grew up in Hong Kong and was educated at Central Saint Martins in London, is also a cultural entrepreneur. She is the founder and director of Q Contemporary, a new art space opened last year in Budapest dedicated to supporting Eastern and Central European contemporary art. Added to her growing art portfolio are Q Studio, which supplies artworks to luxury brands and properties, and Double Q, a gallery in the making that is going to introduce lesser-known international artists to the Hong Kong scene.
Lee Soyoung
Seoul, South Korea
@artsoyounh and @soyoung_collection
Lee Soyoung takes a deeply personal, highly educated perspective to art collecting, ensuring the artists she collects are the ones she truly loves while avoiding making impulsive, uninformed decisions. With her degrees in art education and art history, she founded an art education institute for children, the general public, museums and other art institutions. Author of nearly a dozen books on art and collecting, she is occupied with lecturing art lovers and collectors on art history as well as supporting young Korean collectors and emerging artists.
Nish McCree
Accra, Ghana
@nish_mccree
She is founder of the COWIRE Culture, an exhibition & advocacy platform launched last year that is dedicated to art made in Africa and by the African Diaspora. She began her art collecting journey while living in Washington, DC, and then in Accra, Ghana, redefined her engagement to include art patronage. A mission-driven collector, she is dedicated to significantly contribute to the expansion and sustainability of the arts and culture sector across Africa.
Diane Audrey Ngako
Douala, Cameroon
@dianeaudreyngako and @voodartcollection
30-year-old art collector and creative entrepreneur Diane Audrey founded the Douala Art Fair in 2018 with the goal of fostering a generation of African buyers so as to develop the market for art created on the continent. Her collection includes work by James Barnor, Amadou Sanogo, Malick Sidibe, Jean David Nkot, and Joana Choumali, for which she calls the Voodart Collection. Lately, she had an exhibition of her collection at the Institut Français in Douala, making the art accessible to the local public.
Tokini Peterside
Lagos, Nigeria
@tokinipeterside
Tokini Peterside is an ambitious art entrepreneur seeking to establish African art as a cornerstone of the global art market as she founded ART x Lagos, West Africa’s first international art fair, in 2016, which has doubled in size since its first edition. An art collector and design enthusiast, Tokini currently serves on the boards of Yinka Shonibare’s G.A.S. Foundation, a new organisation facilitating international artistic exchange and collaboration. Some of her favorite African artists include Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Taiye Idahor and Zohra Opoku.
Alejandra Castro Rioseco
Dubai, UAE/ New York, USA/ Santiago, Chile
@alecastrorioseco and @miaartcollection
Alejandra Castro Rioseco’s MIA Art Collection is aimed at promoting women artists and their work globally. Her collection is shared on MIAANYWHERE Virtual Museum since 2020. Besides, she is the founder of Mujer Opina Foundation in Chile to promote and educate on women development and empowerment, and of the project “Exiled for the Arts, NYC”. She is also an active board member of various institutions, including the Frederic Chopin Foundation in Poland, the Museo del Barrio in New York City, the International Jose Limon ballet, Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Victoria Rogers
New York and Palo Alto, USA
@victoriamrogers
Former director of arts at Kickstarter, Victoria Rogers is passionate about collecting contemporary artists of colour. Her collection is a tribute to personal relationships and her support for artists. She is a board member at the Brooklyn Museum, Creative Time and Little Sun. She is also one of the Co-Chairs of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, an advocacy group that seeks to create true representation in museums, not just tokenism.
Anahita Taneja
New Delhi, India
@anahitataneja and @prameya_art_foundation
For the past 14 years, Anahita Taneja has been committed to contemporary art from South Asia as she co-founded the gallery, Shrine Empire in 2008. Over the years Shrine Empire has become one of the leading contemporary art spaces in New Delhi. She went on to co-found the Prameya Art Foundation, an initiative to support experimental practices as well as encourage trans-disciplinary collaborations. She has commissioned a range of critically successfully curated exhibitions, discovered and promoted emerging artists and created links between South Asian arts and other regions internationally.
Related:
The Next Gen Art Collectors Report (2021)
Interview with Sabrina Ho — If You Are Buying Something That You Truly Love, You Can’t Lose
Interview with Lee Soyoung — Lee Soyoung on Drawing Her Own Art History Map
Interview with Nish McCree — How This Mission-Driven Woman Collector in Ghana Creates Reality for Her Beloved Africa
Interview with Victoria Rogers — When an Artwork Goes to Places I Haven’t Yet Been to Myself!
