I listen to my work.

I respond to whatever they say.

They say something. They speak.

There are times I have to leave my house just to come and see if they’re okay.

I’m one artist who’s never scared about what will happen with the clay.

This is my also favorite part. 

Making my work, I feel so connected to it. 

I go to my studio to calm down.

I don’t listen to music.

When I’m here, it’s extremely quiet.

I don’t know what is going to happen, which I enjoy.

She’ll tell you, “Stop.”

“We’re done.”

You have to listen.

Leilah Babirye is an artist who’s drawing on history, but building and innovating in this contemporary moment.

This will be beautiful.

I love you.

There’s so much playfulness, and fearlessness in how she approaches clay, and her sculptures.

Hi, How was your flight?

Good!

You smell like Africa. 

At the de Young museum, we are inviting contemporary artists to be in conversation with the historical collection.

I want to first show you the piece I’ve been working on. 

Oh my gosh. Wow. 

This is the piece that I came up with for the de Young. 

I’m imagining actually like putting something.

It might be a copper wire, you know, just coming down here.

It’s not only about this monumentality and the size of the sculptures, but it’s really about how much space Leilah Babirye is creating for queer people, for queer community.

And that is quite extraordinary.

It’s been eight years I came in this country, with asylum process.

Coming from Uganda, as a LGBT+ person, it’s been a whole, a whole journey.

I grew up in a home where we didn’t talk about it.

My parents knew I’m gay, but we didn’t talk about it.

As an artist, I started getting frustrated.

I kept on producing work. I kept on getting involved in the LGBT+ community.

Now I’m being so vocal. 

I’m on TV.

My parents didn’t agree with that.

My dad, he just sent me a letter.

Don’t come back home.

So that frustration now took me to just burning all my work.

I would collect old trash, put it in my work and then put it on fire.

But that wasn’t working.

It wasn’t making any sense.

So I started just creating beautiful work out of trash.

That took me to another level, to where I am now.

To create our own families that we can accept as LGBT+ persons.

Happy people.

I trust the material, but they also trust me.

Oh my God, Leilah, you are fearless.

I’m, like, so tense.

It was good.

With that chainsaw, you can make a mistake.

When you’re carving, you have to listen.

It tells you, “Mama, stop.”

What do you think? 

Yeah, she has a neck. 

She has a whole neck. She has shoulders.

She’s looking really elegant.

My baby.

The title “We Have a History” is speaking to artists from the past, as well as artists in the present.

It’s an opportunity to meet ancestors that I even didn’t know existed for sure.

Reclaiming identity, reclaiming belonging, reclaiming community, through history, through culture, through art, is really the most powerful message in the show.

So I just imagine

I just imagine how they’re going to look at each other, what advice they’re giving to each other.

How are we comparing them and what are they both speaking?

I would like people to sit down and just listen.

What comes in your mind when you see this piece?

Does it talk to you?

What does it say?