Bringing together more than eighty projects by artists and designers from around the world, the Triennial unfolds across all four levels of the museum, offering a dynamic, cross-disciplinary encounter with contemporary practice.

Muholi's monumental sculpture depicts the artist as the Virgin Mary, draped in robes with hands clasped in prayer — an image that draws on Muholi’s Roman Catholic upbringing while reconfiguring a canonical figure of devotion through a deeply personal and political lens. Across their practice, Muholi has consistently foregrounded the lives and experiences of South Africa’s Black LGBTQIA+ communities, using image-making as a form of resistance, visibility, and self-authorship. In Umkhuseli, these concerns take on new material form. The sculpture reflects on endurance, care, and the symbolic weight of protection, while also critically engaging the limitations of religious, legal, and political institutions in addressing ongoing gender-based violence and injustice.

By positioning the self as both subject and icon, Muholi reclaims authorship over representation, proposing an expanded, inclusive vision of spirituality grounded in empathy and collective responsibility.

As part of the NGV Triennial 2026, Umkhuseli enters into dialogue with a global constellation of practices that explore transformation across cultural, social, and material registers — affirming Muholi’s continued impact within contemporary art discourse.

Full list of participating artists/designers:
Chie Aoki
Ella Badu
Meriem Bennani
April Bey
Benedikte Bjerre
Angelina Karadada Boona
Karola Braga
Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows
Cai Guo-Qiang
Chun Yin Rainbow Chan 陳雋然
David Claerbout
Johanna Dahm
Jose Dávila
Rana Dehghan
Chief Beau Dick
Rineke Dijkstra
Frida Escobedo
Pam Evelyn
Chinar Farooqui
Juan Ford
Willies Gan
Louise Giovanelli
Tui Emma Gillies
Noémie Goudal
Craig Green
Shilpa Gupta
Jenny Holzer
Lonnie Hutchinson
Megha Joshi
Ayoung Kim
Christine Sun Kim
YoungEun Kim
Rachel Kneebone
Kohl Tyler
Kresiah Mukwazhi
Kyra Mancktelow
Claudia Martínez Garay
Maria Madeira
Théo Mercier
Jorge Méndez Blake
Thabisa Mjo & Beauty Bathembile Ngxongo
Kent Monkman
Zanele Muholi
Audie Murray
Robert Nava
Nicolas Party
Louise Paramor
Pamela Rosenkranz
Mika Rottenberg
Kathleen Ryan
Analia Saban
Pieter Schoolwerth
Ann Shelton
Wael Shawky
Rooshad Shroff
Avery Singer
Dayanita Singh
Kiki Smith
Tai Snaith
A&A Studio
Jak Sun 孙宇坤
David Szauder
Martine Syms
Sarah Sze
Christian Thompson
Wolfgang Tillmans
Aldo Álvarez Tostado
Wu Tsang
Nora Turato
Phil Vanderhyden
Kawita Vatanajyankur
T. Venkanna
Ocean Vuong
Lu Yang
Coen Young
Xu Tiantian
Najla El Zein