This article shows how the exhibition of art at the Iziko South African National Gallery was discussed and redefined in response to demands for equal access and more diverse representation. The article analyses the critique of the three white curators behind the Our Lady-exhibition (2016), expressed by a group of South African contemporary artists, as well as members from the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce, who challenged the legitimacy of the curators to represent South Africa’s diversity of voices, protested against the treatment of victims of gender-specific violence, and criticised the continued exclusion of subaltern parts of the population. Based on anthropological fieldwork carried out in and around the gallery from 2016-18, the article presents the different positions expressed in the public debate surrounding the exhibition and shows that the museum space continuous to “reinforce for some the feeling of belonging and for others the feeling of exclusion” (Bourdieu et al. 1991:112): the art gallery remains a place, where it is easier for white, well-educated voices to speak and be heard. However, the protests against the National Gallery in Cape Town challenged and created debate to a degree that made the institution recognise its privileged position in society and make it incorporate a more diverse plurality of voices.