Outed in her native country as a lesbian and underground LGBTQ+ activist,[1] Babirye's work is of large-scale ceramics, wooden sculptures, African masks, as well as drawings and paintings on paper.
Babirye identifies as a lesbian woman, where her sexual orientation caused her to face discrimination and public humiliation as it is considered illegal to be openly homosexual in Uganda.
[1] In 2015, Babirye was publicly outed in Uganda's press, was denied supervision from her tutors during her Master's at Makerere University due to her sexuality, and was disowned from her family.
Babirye supports the Kakuma refugee camp in Nairobi, Kenya, as well as working alongside the African Service Committee to advocate and assist LGBTQIA+ asylum-seeking people.
[6] The ceramic face is erected from tubes of a bicycle tire, hardware, and glazing, as a commentary on the name given to a gay person in Luganda, ‘ebisiyaga’, meaning rubbish.
[7] Alongside Nansamba II, Babirye's series includes Nakawaddwa from the Kuchu Ngabu (Antelope) Clan, 2021, and Abambowa (Royal Guard Who Protects the King), 2021, all which are intentionally ambiguous, and with no assigned gender to her any of her faces.
The figures are splattered or dripped with ceramic glazes, playing with techniques of the medium and aiming to ultimately imagine a new society, and encourage the evaluation of traditional values and systems of British Colonialism in Uganda.
[9] The title of this work is significant not only due to the clan name, but also in the term ‘kuchu’ meaning a ‘secret word’ that those in the queer community of Uganda refer to each other by.
Babirye states, “Both the space and the titles are important to me because the work is basically a reflection on where I come from in the Buganda Kingdom and on creating a queer community”.
[1] Since being granted asylum in the US in 2018, Babirye has secured multiple solo exhibitions in New York and internationally, presenting her large scale sculptures, ceramics, and paintings.
[12] Placed on pedestals, Babirye's work further enhances her representation of the rule of Uganda, and a vision of a new society, without oppression of race, sex, class, or sexuality.
[14] In Babirye's work, she explores the potential of found objects, or materials considered garbage, to reflect on the term ‘ebisiyaga’ which refers to the gay people of Uganda, another word for rubbish.
[14] This exhibition, like others of Babirye's explores the theme of identity, and her work creates a utopian vision of a supported queer community, which is in stark contrast to the realities of Uganda, where it is illegal to be gay.
In 2024, Babirye exhibited as part of the Venice Biennale and had her first solo show in the United States at San Francisco's De Young Museum.