LEILAH BABIRYE

Shortlisted | High Line Plinth Commissions 2026/27

Image: Leilah Babirye, 2024, photo: Holger Niehaus
Image: Leilah Babirye, 2024, photo: Holger Niehaus

We congratulate Leilah Babirye on being shortlisted by High Line Art for the Fifth and Sixth Plinth Commissions on the High Line at 30th Street, New York.

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Image: Leilah Babirye, 2024, photo: Holger Niehaus
Image: Leilah Babirye, 2024, photo: Holger Niehaus

Additional:

LEILAH BABIRYE et al.

Shifting the Silence. Die Stille Verschieben (group show)
Lenbachhaus, Munich
From 14 October 2025

Leilah Babirye, Tuli Mukwano (We Are in Love) IV, 2025, photo: def image
Leilah Babirye, Tuli Mukwano (We Are in Love) IV, 2025, photo: def image

Work by Leilah Babirye will be featured in the group show Shifting the Silence, at Lenbachhaus, Munich, opening on 14 October 2025. Borrowing its title from Etel Adnan’s last book, the exhibition reflects on the challenge of verbalizing  works of visual art and making them tangible, inviting visitors to embrace the inexpressible in a poetic way.

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Leilah Babirye, Tuli Mukwano (We Are in Love) IV, 2025, photo: def image
Leilah Babirye, Tuli Mukwano (We Are in Love) IV, 2025, photo: def image

LEILAH BABIRYE

Nakimbugwe from the Kuchu Royal Family of Buganda, 2024 (permanent collection)
de Young Museum, San Francisco

Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, Photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024
Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, Photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024

Leilah Babirye’s Nakimbugwe from the Kuchu Royal Family of Buganda, 2024, has been acquired by the de Young Museum, San Francisco. The sculpture is on view in the museum’s current exhibition Leilah Babirye: We Have a History until 26 October, 2025.

This exhibition is Babirye’s first solo museum show in the United States and highlights the connection between past and present that is at the heart of the museum’s Contemporary African Art programme. The presentation has been organised by Natasha Becker, Curator of African Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, Photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024
Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, Photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024

LEILAH BABIRYE

We Have a History (solo show)
de Young Museum, San Francisco
22 June 2024 – 3 May 2026

Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024
Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024

The de Young Museum, San Francisco, presents We Have a History, Leilah Babirye’s first solo museum show in the United States. Known for her highly expressive, ambiguously gendered sculptures in ceramic, wood and discarded objects, Babirye creates portraits of her LGBTQ+ community, thereby speaking to the power of reclaiming personal and cultural identity through artistic practice. Exploring historical narratives and cultural traditions, the exhibition highlights the connection between past and present that is at the heart of the de Young’s Contemporary African Art programme.

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Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024
Installation view: We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, 2024, photo: Gary Sexton, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024