LEILAH BABIRYE et al.
From Joséphine Bowes: Trendsetters and Trailblazers (group show)
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham
8 February – 29 June 2025
Work by Leilah Babirye is featured in From Joséphine Bowes: Trendsetters and Trailblazers, at The Bowes Museum in Durham. In celebration of the museum’s visionary co-founder Joséphine Bowes, the exhibition showcases more than 60 artists, designers and makers, from Pablo Picasso to Grayson Perry, who have shaped trends in western culture over the past 300 years.
In her multidisciplinary practice, Babirye transforms everyday materials into objects that address issues surrounding identity, sexuality and human rights. Her exhibited sculptures stand as symbolic pillars of hope: through her powerful lens, identity becomes a fluid intersection of past, present and future.
The Bowes Museum
LEILAH BABIRYE et al.
Queer Histories (group show)
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo
13 December 2024 – 13 April 2025
Leilah Babirye’s sculpture Nakyeyune from the Kuchu Nyonyi Nnyange (Egret) Clan, 2023–2024, is included in Queer Histories at Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand. Bringing together a dynamic range of works that reflect on the complexities of LGBTQIA+ experiences, the group exhibition explores questions of identity and community across different cultures.
Babirye’s sculpture refers to her heritage as a member of the Buganda kingdom of central Uganda, which is made up of fifty-two distinct clans. Clan members share a unique set of customs, totems and given names that date to pre-colonial times. ‘Each sculpture in the show is given a name from a different clan,’ Babirye says, ‘This is to represent the queer Ugandans that exist in every clan.’ Through her work, Babirye bridges past and present, offering a deeply resonant commentary on belonging, resilience, and the intersection of culture and queerness.
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
LEILAH BABIRYE
We Have a History (solo show)
de Young Museum, San Francisco
22 June 2024 – 22 June 2025
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.
de Young