Visiting Artist Talk - Leilah Babirye

Leilah Babirye was born in 1985 in Kampala, Uganda. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She studied art at Makerere University in Kampala (2007–2010) and fled her native Uganda to New York in 2015 to participate in the Fire Island Artist Residency after being publicly outed in a local newspaper. In 2018, the artist was granted asylum in the US and presented her first solo show at Gordon Robichaux, NY. In 2022, she created a site-responsive work for ‘Black Atlantic’, a Public Art Fund project at Brooklyn Bridge Park and presented five major sculptures at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Leilah Babirye’s multidisciplinary practice transforms everyday materials into objects that address issues surrounding identity, sexuality and human rights. She was recently listed as one of 50 of America’s top creatives by Wallpaper*.