Çelenk Bafra is the Artistic Director of Istanbul Modern and has curated exhibitions for museums and art institutions in Türkiye and across Europe for over two decades. Her practice focuses on research- and production-based group exhibitions alongside cross-disciplinary public programs.

During her tenure as Director of the Istanbul Biennial and SAHA, she established international partnerships with biennials and museums, developed grant and support programs for artists and curators, and founded international residency and curatorial initiatives, including SAHA Studio in Istanbul and Atelier de Turquie at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

A member of CIMAM and AICA, Bafra has served on the board of MuCEM in Marseille at the invitation of the French Ministry of Culture. Since her research trip to Diyarbakır and Mardin in 2005 for the Istanbul Biennial, she has maintained an ongoing dialogue with the region in collaboration with NGOs and independent art initiatives. Her articles, reviews, and interviews have appeared in international publications and have been broadcast on Apaçık Radyo since 2016.