Frieze London

Stephen Friedman Gallery presents a solo presentation by Ugandan artist Leliah Babirye for Frieze London and new sculptures by Babirye and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA for Frieze Sculpture 2023.

Babirye’s solo exhibition includes a series of dynamic hand carved and ceramic sculptures of varying scale alongside new works on paper. Babirye’s multidisciplinary practice transforms everyday materials into objects that address issues surrounding identity, sexuality and human rights. In this body of work, the artist imagines creating a community of queer Ugandans.

Adorned with debris collected from the streets of New York, Babirye’s sculptures are woven, whittled, welded and burnished. After her ceramic works are fired, Babirye begins to unconventionally splatter, drip and splash them with glaze. Her works are often embellished with ‘jewellery’ of found materials such as cans, nails and wire.  American art critic Jerry Saltz has said about Babirye’s practice; “It is important to break the rules in ceramics more than in almost any other medium, because it is alchemy and of the earth and is belly-magic.” Babirye’s choice to use discarded materials in her work is intentional – the pejorative term for a gay person in the Luganda language is ‘abasiyazi’ meaning sugarcane husk. “It’s rubbish,” explains the artist, “the part of the sugarcane you throw out.”

Babirye’s ongoing ‘Queer Identity Card’ series is rendered in exuberant acrylic paint on paper, depicting ambiguously gendered subjects wearing bright lipstick and dressed in vivid colours; like passport photos or identity cards. This series attests to the discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community and the poverty, the violence and the lack of legal protection and healthcare provided to them.

Babirye was born and raised in Kampala, one of the most powerful of Uganda’s kingdoms. The Buganda people are proud of their ancestral lineage and traditions - members of its clans consider themselves as siblings, regardless of their distant birth relationship. Referring to this clan system, Babirye employs the term “kuchu”— a “secret word” in her native tongue known only by those in the queer and trans community. Babirye playfully envisages an alternate queer and transgender history, unified in its support and protection of its people.

For Frieze Sculpture, Babirye presents ‘Gyagenda’, her first bronze sculpture. The title is a Luganda idiom, which is a moniker often given to young people seeking to gather their chosen families in the wider world. Babirye moved to New York in 2015 from her native Uganda, receiving asylum in 2018. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, her experience of being exiled from her home country has inspired not only her artistic practice, but her prolific activism in support of LGBTQ+ and human rights worldwide.

Celebrating Deutsche Bank's 20th year in partnership with Frieze Art Fairs, a solo presentation by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA is on display at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management lounges at Frieze London and Frieze Masters. Shonibare examines race, class and the construction of cultural identity. Offering an overview of his varied practice, the works on display include masks, quilts and sculptures that explore the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories.