Curator Huma Kabakci Follow.Art Card

About me

I was born in London in 1990 to a Turkish family, growing up in Istanbul until age 14. My adult life has been shaped by trying to understand what it means to be British and Turkish. As a curator, writer, food anthropologist and custodian of the intergenerational NHK Collection, this identity exploration underpins my work. The NHK Collection, honouring my late father Nahit Kabakci, focuses on art from Turkic-speaking regions, the post-Soviet world, and the Balkans. I have expanded it to include more women artists and diverse media, and am looking into gifting, starting with the Lidice Art Collection in Czech Republic.

I trained at the Royal College of Art (MA, MPhil in Curating Contemporary Art) and London College of Communication (Advertising and Marketing). I founded Open Space Contemporary, co-curating exhibitions like Tender Touches. I have since curated independently and as a guest, including at the Sainsbury Centre, developing Ecstasy and the Aftermath for the "How Do We Find Love?" season (2026).
Alongside curating, I am completing an MA in the Anthropology of Food at SOAS. My dissertation examines Turkish coffee culture, gender, and fortune-telling through the lens of samimiyet - a Turkish term for sincerity and intimacy. This shapes how I approach food, ritual, and hospitality as curatorial materials.

I serve on the boards of FOLLOW.ART, Sensity Studio and am a Benefactor at Nottingham Contemporary.