Leilah Babirye: We Have a History

Leilah Babirye (b. 1985; Kampala, Uganda) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She studied art at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (2007–10), and participated in the Fire Island Artist Residency in 2015. In 2018, she received asylum in the US with support from the African Services Committee and the NYC Anti-Violence Project. Babirye has presented solo exhibitions at the de Young Museum, San Francisco (2024); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK (2024); Gordon Robichaux, New York (2020 and 2018) and Los Angeles (2022); Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2021). In 2024, Babirye’s work isincluded in Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere: 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice.

Dr. Ksenia M. Soboleva is a New York based art historian specializing in queer art and culture. She holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, with a dissertation on art, AIDS, and lesbian identity in the United States. Soboleva is currently working on a book project titled Friendship as a Way of Art: Queer Identity and Visual Citation, and co-editing (with Svetlana Kitto) the first major publication on the lesbian gallery Trial Balloon. Her writings have appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, BOMB Magazine, Hyperallergic, Ursula Magazine, as well as various exhibition catalogues and artist monographs. She teaches at the New School and NYU.