More about the artist…
'Emma Witter is an artist that dreams with her hands and works to another time, where nothing is disposable and everything she touches might turn to gold. Working intuitively with found and rescued biomass – by-products of London!s restaurant industry or salvaged mud larking on the banks of the river Thames – her sculptures are sensational and beguiling. Witter breathes new life into lost things, and shows us value where we saw only waste. Her process is alchemical, transforming what has been discarded into what must be saved, and her art speaks to our contemporaneous notion of the sublime.’
Nico Kos Earle
Born in 1989, she lives and works in London and is currently enrolled on the Art Humanities MFA at The Royal College of Art. Emma holds a first-class honours degree in Performance Design from Central Saint Martins. On graduating, she won the “Seed Fund Award” from the University of the Arts London – a grant to set up her own studio practice, followed by “Best New Business Award” during UAL Enterprise Week. Numerous exhibitions include solo shows “Tender Resurrection” with Eileen Agar at Bosse & Baum Gallery in London in 2024, “Small Ceremonies” at A.P.A.P. Art Space in Seoul and “A Moveable Feast” with the Portman Estate in London in 2023. Emma is a former studio resident at Sarabande, the Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, Xenia Creative Retreat in Hampshire and Selfridges in London.
Huma Kabakci (b. London, 1990) is a Turkish-British curator, writer, custodian of a family collection, and former founding director of Open Space Contemporary, living and working in London. She graduated with her BA in Advertising and Marketing at the London College of Communication. She completed her MA & MPhil degrees in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art, London. Kabakci has worked in many capacities at commercial galleries, biennials, museums, and auction houses in the UK, Turkey, and internationally. Her curatorial interest lies in creating immersive experiences and a broader dialogue in collaboration with multidisciplinary practitioners. Kabakci’s key areas of interest and knowledge focus on diaspora, gender and identity politics, social impact, food as a medium, and hospitality.
She is currently studying for her second MA in Anthropology of Food (part-time) at SOAS, London, and guest lectures at Sotheby’s Institute, specifically on collection management and the global market. Alongside running her substack page called @curiouscurator, Kabakci is a contributor to STIR magazine, a supporter of Gasworks and a Benefactor of Nottingham Contemporary.
Collaborators
Ellen Mara De Wachter is a writer and coach based in London. Her recent book, "More Than The Eyes: Art, Food and the Senses", has been published by Atelier Éditions in Autumn 2024. Her book “Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration” (Phaidon, 2017) explores the phenomenon of collaboration in the visual arts and its potential in society at large. It includes a historical survey of artistic co-production and co-authorship as well as chapters on 25 international contemporary co-art groups. Ellen is a co-author of ‘Great Women Artists’ (2019), and has contributed to numerous books and exhibition catalogues. Her writing has featured in publications including frieze, Art Monthly, Art Quarterly, The World of Interiors and The White Review.
Ellen has taught widely, including at Central Saint Martins, Royal College of Art, London College of Communication, Royal Academy Schools, Goldsmiths College, Brighton University and Newcastle University. She is a qualified Relational Dynamics coach who works with artists, writers and creative professionals to help them clarify and achieve their goals.
In 2013-15 she was Curator of Public Collection Development at the Contemporary Art Society, where she was responsible for CAS’s acquisitions scheme for museums across the UK. Prior to that, she worked at various arts organisations in London, including the Barbican Art Gallery and the British Museum.
Kawther Luay is an artist and chef. Her work showcases cross-disciplinary practices that touch on migration and belonging by merging local produce and wild food with non-native culinary traditions. Before moving to London last year, Kawther lived and worked in Aberdeenshire, on a project with Deveron Projects titled The Gathering Table. Her work explored the politics of food and hospitality through a creative programme of events, performances and collaboration. After years of studying food through artistic practice, Kawther returned to hospitality and works as a chef in London.