Leilah Babirye
Born: Kampala, Uganda, 1985
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Education
2007–2011 BA Fine Art, Sculpture and Art History, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Special Projects
2023
Frieze Sculpture, London, UK (public commission)
2022
Black Atlantic, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, New York (public commission)
2021
Najunga From the Kuchu Ngaali (Crested Crane) Clan, Celine, London, UK (public commission)
Solo Exhibitions (selected)
2024
We Have a History, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
Obumu (Unity), Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2022
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda), Gordon Robichaux, Los Angeles, California
2021
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda) II, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (catalogue)
2020
Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda (Kuchu Clans of Buganda), Gordon Robichaux, New York (catalogue)
Leilah Babirye, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, California
2018
Amatwaale Ga Ssekabaka Mwanga II (The Empire of King Mwanga II), Gordon Robichaux, New York
Group Exhibitions (selected)
2024
Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere: 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Giardini delle Vergini, Venice, Italy (catalogue)
Liquid Gender, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK
2023
Dreaming of Home, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York
This Too Shall Pass, Venus Over Manhattan, New York
Ecstatic, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California
Traces of Displacement, The Whitworth, Manchester, UK
Living Art Sharing Stories, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK
Distant Voices, Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris, France
Drawings by Sculptors, Helena Anrather, New York
2022
Mixed up with others before we even begin, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (catalogue)
Contemporary African Art Collection, The Africa Centre, London, UK
52 Artists: Revisiting a Feminist Milestone, The Aldrich, Ridgefield, Connecticut
The odds are good, the goods are odd, Lisson Gallery, New York
Set It Off, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York
On The Nature of Things, Andrew Kreps, New York
2021
Coventry Biennial: Hyper-Possible, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK (catalogue)
David Wojnarowicz: Tidal Motion, 445 Commercial Street, Provincetown, Massachusetts
DOWNTOWN 2021, La MaMa Galleria, New York
2020
25 Years, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (catalogue)
When Sun Comes Out, Blank Forms, New York
Did I Ever Have a Chance?, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California
Art on the Grid, Public Art Fund, New York
Intimate Companions, Mary Heaton Vorse House, Provincetown, Massachusetts
A Page From My Intimate Journal (Part II) —, Gordon Robichaux at Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2019
Flight: A Collective History, Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Stonewall 50, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas
Plays On Camp, curated by Ksenia M. Soboleva, Assembly Room, New York
The Other Is You: Brooklyn Queer Portraiture, Bric, Brooklyn, New York
Fur Cup, Underdonk, Brooklyn, 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, New York
Drawings, CANADA, Frieze New York
Worlds Apart | Worlds Reframed: Images & Voices of the Queer Diaspora, Concordia University, Portland, Oregon
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, Denmark (catalogue)
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 DC
2015
FIAR: Fire Island Art Residency Exhibition, Cherry Grove Community House, Fire Island, New York
2014
Makerere Art Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Kampala Art Biennale, Kampala Contemporary Art Festival, Kampala, Uganda
2013
Uganda Museum, Kampala, Uganda
2012
NAFASI Art Space, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
2011
Kuona Art Trust, Nairobi, Kenya
Women Exhibition, Shelton Hotel, Kampala, Uganda
Publications (selected)
2022
Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
2021
Coventry Biennial: Hyper-Possible, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK
Leilah Babirye, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK and Gordon Robichaux, New York
2020
25 Years, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
2016
When Things Fall Apart: Critical Voices on the Radars, Trapholt Museum, Kolding, Denmark
Residencies
2023 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2021 Center for Contemporary Ceramics, California State University Long Beach, California
2020 Art Omi, Ghent, New York
2019 Art Omi, Ghent, New York
2018 Socrates Emerging Artist Fellowship, Long Island City, New York
2015 Fire Island Art Residency, Long Island, New York
2014 32 Degrees East / Ugandan Art Trust, Kampala, Uganda
2013 NAFASI Art Space, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
2013 Kuona Trust, Nairobi, Kenya
2013 Hospitalfield Artist Residency, Scotland, UK
Lectures
2021
Can you see us now? A Diversity, Equity, & Inclusivity Ceramics Symposium, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (visiting artist)
Art and Survival at Tisch, curated by JD Samson, New York University, New York
2020
Yorkshire Sculpture International, a partnership project between the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds and Wakefield, UK
Dykonography: Conversations With Artists, The Center, New York
Art and Survival at Tisch, curated by JD Samson, New York University, New York
Clifford Chance US LLP, New York
Dialogue with human rights advocate Melanie Nathan, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, California
2019
I Had A Dream, Moleskine Foundation and The Africa Center, New York
Creativity in Context at Tisch, organised by JD Samson, New York University, New York
2018
Ori Gallery, organised with Denver David Robinson, Portland, Oregon
Black Lesbian Conference, Barnard College, New York
Leilah Babirye: In Conversation, Gordon Robichaux, New York
Forum Talks, organised by Serubiri Moses, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York
2016
Clifford Chance US LLP, Washington, DC
Public Collections
The Africa Centre, London, UK
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York