Leilah Babirye
Biography
Born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1985, Babirye studied Fine Art, Sculpture and Art History at Makerere University from 2007 to 2011. She became involved in Uganda's LGBTQ+ community and fled Uganda in 2015 after being publicly outed in a local newspaper. She was granted asylum in the United States in 2018 and is now based in Brooklyn.
Babirye works primarily with wood, ceramics, metal, rubber, paint, and discarded materials. Her sculptures draw on African mask traditions and Buganda clan traditions to imagine queer communities and histories. Her use of discarded materials also connects to derogatory language used against LGBTQ+ people in Uganda, including a Luganda term associated with sugarcane husks.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Public Art Fund, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and the 2024 Venice Biennale.
BQW Impact
Babirye's work places queer Ugandan experiences and cultural histories within contemporary art. Her sculptures draw on Buganda clan traditions and transform discarded materials into figures representing queer identity, community, dignity, and belonging.
Her practice also connects personal experience with broader LGBTQ+ and human-rights concerns. By creating imagined queer clans and lineages, Babirye reimagines cultural connections while challenging the exclusion and stigma experienced by LGBTQ+ people in Uganda.
Notable Works
Nansamba II from the Kuchu Ngabi (2021)
Glazed ceramic sculpture incorporating bicycle tire inner tubes and found objects as part of Babirye's Kuchu clan series.
Nagirinya from the Kuchu Ngo (2021)
Ceramic portrait sculpture incorporating waste rubber tubing and other materials to address the experience of LGBTQ+ people in Uganda.
Kuchu Ndagamuntu (2021)
Acrylic paintings on paper that imagine queer Ugandan identities through portrait-like figures inspired by identity cards and ancestral Buganda clans.
Agali Awamu (2022)
Monumental wood sculptures incorporating metal, bicycle parts, and found and altered objects that Babirye describes as beacons of freedom welcoming an international LGBTQ+ community.
Learn More
Institutional biography and information about Babirye's public-art commissions and exhibitions.
Gallery biography and documentation of Babirye's sculptures, exhibitions, and artistic practice.
Artist profile documenting Babirye's practice, Tuli Mukwano, and professional Instagram account.
Babirye's professional Instagram account, identified by Socrates Sculpture Park and other art-world sources.