Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential List Includes Artist Cao Fei and Photojournalist Lynsey Addario
Time magazine’s 2026 “100 Most Influential” list includes Chinese artist Cao Fei and photojournalist Lynsey Addario, as part of a roster spanning politics, technology, fashion, medicine, and the arts. Time editor in chief Sam Jacobs noted that the list, first published in 1999 (Time was founded in 1923), is based on editorial reporting and global recommendations rather than a single metric. Cao Fei (born 1978 in Guangzhou) is cited for a career spanning film, digital media, photography, sculpture, and performance, with major exhibitions including a UCCA Center for Contemporary Art retrospective (Beijing, 2021) and solo shows at Centre Pompidou (2019), MoMA PS1 (2016), and MAXXI (Rome, 2021); she also won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2021, and her Time tribute was written by Miuccia Prada. Addario, a MacArthur “genius” grant recipient in 2009, has documented conflicts and humanitarian crises for more than two decades, with work published by outlets including the New York Times and National Geographic and assignments in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen.
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This story was covered in Museum Power Plays and a Shaky Art Market