Koyo Kouoh, the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale, was appointed curator of the 2026 edition and began shaping the main exhibition titled 'In Minor Keys' in October 2024. She died of cancer in May 2025 at age 57, but the Biennale organizers have committed to realizing her vision. The exhibition features 111 artists, collectives, and organizations from cities including Nairobi, New Orleans, Kingston, New Delhi, Beirut, and Bangkok, many of them her longtime collaborators. Kouoh was also the founder of Raw Material Company in Dakar and executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town.
Kouoh's legacy matters because she was a transformative figure who championed African and diaspora artists, built art institutions on the continent, and insisted on centering African perspectives rather than European ones. Her curation of the Venice Biennale posthumously ensures that artists and practices long ignored by the global art market receive major international visibility. Her career—from founding Raw Material Company to leading Zeitz MOCAA—demonstrated a model of institution-building rooted in local communities, and her influence continues to reshape how contemporary African art is presented and valued worldwide.