Leilah Babirye

Atwooki from the Kuchu Tooro Kingdom, 2025

Nakaweesa from the Kuchu Ffumbe (Civet) Clan, 2025

Nalubega from the Kuchu Ngabi (Antelope) Clan IV, 2025

Umwami we Sikoka, The Chief of the Kuchu Bugisu Clan, 2025

Apuuli from the Kuchu Tooro Kingdom, 2025

Wasajja from the Kuchu Royal Family of Buganda, 2025

Discarded materials take on another life in Leilah Babirye’s figures. Bicycle wheels, chains and tyres become crowns, jewellery and elaborate hair, adorning sculptures carved from wood or modelled in clay. Each bears a name drawn from the clans of the Kingdom of Buganda, where inherited names connect people with animal or plant totems. Forced to leave Uganda after being outed as gay, Babirye uses these names to affirm a form of belonging that families or governments cannot withdraw. Her use of waste carries a related charge. She links discarded matter to a Luganda slur associated with homosexuality and to the unwanted husk of sugar cane. What has been thrown away is made imposing and precious. Each sculpture acquires its own character and a dignified place within a queer community extending across borders and generations.

Through a process of reclaiming what is perceived as undesirable, Leilah Babirye’s sculptures become living, breathing beings to which she gives names.