LEILAH BABIRYE
Recognised for her unique sculptures and use of discarded materials, Leilah Babirye (b. 1985) incorporates metals, ceramics and hand-carved wood in her multidisciplinary practice to explore themes of identity, sexuality and queer activism. Babirye, who fled Uganda’s anti-LGBT legislation and hostile political climate, uses her work to address the lived experiences of those in the queer community in Uganda and across Africa. Babirye has cultivated a signature style through her blend of African iconography, such as masks and totems, as well as ‘found’ materials sourced from the streets of New York, to express and celebrate LGBTQ+ stories and identities. Informed by the artist’s own personal history, Babirye’s work often positions mask-like heads and faces as her primary subject matter, referencing her heritage whilst advocating for her community.
‘Reusing materials is important to me, as a person who comes from a background where the LGBTQ community is looked at as trash still today. As an artist, I find beauty in using found materials to showcase and reclaim my community.’
L. Babirye, ‘Leilah Babirye on Reclaiming her Queer Community’ in Art in America, 2021.
Image: Omulangila NaKattakkesu from the Kuchu Royal Family of Buganda, 2022, wood, wax, glue, acrylic, lags, washers, nails, aluminium and found objects, 210.5 x 57 x 28.5 cm.; 82 7/8 x 22 1/2 x 11 1/4 in. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Selected Works
Group Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
Biography
VITA
1985
Born in Kampala, Uganda
2007–2011
BA Fine Art, Sculpture and Art History, Makerere University, Kampala
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Columbus Museum of Art
The Africa Centre, London
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson
mumok, Vienna
RISD Museum, Providence
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich
Sammlung Goetz, Munich
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Shandong
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
We Have a History
de Young Museum, San Francisco
Obumu (Unity)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton
2022
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda)
Gordon Robichaux, Los Angeles
2021
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda) II
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
2020
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda)
Gordon Robichaux, New York
Gwe Is Ye Nze, Lekka Mbele Nze (You Are Not Me, Let Me Be Me)
Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco
2018
Amatwaale Ga Ssekabaka Mwanga II (The Empire of King Mwanga II)
Gordon Robichaux, New York
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia: Stranieri Ovunque / Foreigners Everywhere
Central Pavilion (Giardini)
Arsenal, Venice
Liquid Gender
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich
2023
The Divine Feminine: Contemporary Women Sculptors
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach
Dreaming of Home
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York
This Too Shall Pass
Venus Over Manhattan, New York
Ecstatic
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Traces of Displacement
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Living Art Sharing Stories
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich
Distant Voices
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
Drawings by Sculptors
Helena Anrather, New York
2022
Black Atlantic
Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York
Mixed up with others before we even begin
mumok, Vienna
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art
Hayward Gallery, London
Contemporary African Art Collection
The Africa Centre, London
52 Artists: Revisiting a Feminist Milestone
The Aldrich, Ridgefield
The odds are good, the goods are odd
Lisson Gallery, New York
Set It Off
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill
On The Nature of Things
Andrew Kreps, New York
2021
Coventry Biennial: Hyper-Possible
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
David Wojnarowicz: Tidal Motion
445 Commercial Street, Provincetown
DOWNTOWN 2021
La MaMa Galleria, New York
2020
25 Years
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
When Sun Comes Out
Blank Forms, New York
Did I Ever Have a Chance?
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills
Art on the Grid
Public Art Fund, New York
Intimate Companions
Mary Heaton Vorse House, Provincetown
A Page From My Intimate Journal (Part II)
Gordon Robichaux at Parker Gallery, Los Angeles
2019
Flight: A Collective History
Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson
Stonewall 50
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Plays On Camp
Assembly Room, New York
The Other Is You: Brooklyn Queer Portraiture
BRIC, New York
Fur Cup
Underdonk, New York
Nobody’s World
Gordon Robichaux, New York
2018
STRANGE ATTRACTORS: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art, Vol. 2 The Rings of Saturn
Kerry Schuss, New York
The Socrates Annual
Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City
Worlds Apart | Worlds Reframed: Images & Voices of the Queer Diaspora
Concordia University, Portland
2017
Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Small Works for Big Change
Participant Inc, New York
Let Go or Be Dragged
Gordon Robichaux, NADA, New York
Leilah Babirye, Daphne Fitzpatrick, Siobhan Liddell, and Tabboo!
Gordon Robichaux, New York
2016
When Things Fall Apart: Critical Voices on the Radars
Trapholt Museum, Kolding
Art and Resistance, curated by the Center for Constitutional Rights
Mormor Studio, New York
Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Small Works for Big Change
Cooper Union Gallery, New York
Sites of Exchange: Lavender Diaspora
Clifford Chance US LLP, New York and Washington D.C.
2015
FIAR: Fire Island Art Residency Exhibition
Cherry Grove Community House, Fire Island
2014
Makere Art Gallery, Kampala
2013
Uganda Museum, Kampala
2012
NAFASI Art Space, Dar-Es-Salaam
2011
Kuona Art Trust, Nairobi
Women Exhibition
Shelton Hotel, Kampala
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
C. Lauson, R. Rugoff & A. Sherlock, Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London; Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2022
A. French, R. Hughes & M. Pigott, eds., Introducing Coventry Biennial 2021: Hyper-Possible, exh. cat., Coventry: Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, 2021
L. O’Neill-Butler & R. J. Parker, Leilah Babirye, exh. cat., London / New York: Stephen Friedman Gallery / Gordon Robichaux, 2021
M. Andersson, et al., 25 Years, exh. cat., London: Stephen Friedman Gallery, 2020
N’Goné Fall, et al., When things fall apart. Critical voices on the radars, exh. cat., Trapholt Museum of Modern Art and Design, Kolding; Dakar: GawLab Collective Dakar, 2016
Videos
Selected Press
Apollo Magazine March 2024
Art Basel March 2024
Bomb Magazine October 2022
Wallpaper* July 2022
Artsy June 2022
Cultured Mag October 2018
Out March 2018
Blouinartinfo.com December 2016
