Çelenk Bafra, artistic director of Istanbul Modern, has been curating exhibitions for museums and institutions in Turkey and Europe for twenty years. Çelenk Bafra's curatorial practice at Istanbul Modern focuses on production and research-oriented group exhibitions and interdisciplinary public programs. During her tenure as director of the Istanbul Biennial, she established partnerships with various biennials, including the Venice Biennale, Athens, Havana, Lyon, and Sao Paulo Biennials, managing the participation of artists from Turkey. While serving as director at İKSV and SAHA, she developed support programs for artists and curators, establishing and managing SAHA Studio and the Turkey Workshop at Paris Cité des Arts. At the invitation of the French Ministry of Culture, Bafra served on the board of directors of the Museum of Mediterranean and European Civilizations (MuCEM) in Marseille and AICA Turkey.

She first came to Mardin in 2005 to conduct research with the curators and artists of the Istanbul Biennial, and she has maintained her connection with Mardin through the Güneş Cinema project in partnership with the Mardin Cinema Association and the Mardin Biennial. Her critiques and interviews on international biennials and different editions of the Mardin Biennial have been published in Apaçık Radio, as well as in books and magazines.