"Civilization reveals its moral ledger by what it discards, and Leilah Babirye turns that ledger into a crown. Leilah Babirye works with the abandoned skeleton of society rubber, scrap, chains, husks, shards and refashions it into sovereign queer mythology. Rubbish: The Queer Kingdom of Leilah Babirye is not simply a documentary but a decade-long act of witness, allegiance, and artistic revolt, charting the rise of a queer Ugandan artist-activist from persecution and exile to global cultural force."
"What others call trash, she calls inheritance. What power tried to erase, she renders monumental. The film runs on two time signatures: ten high-pressure days inside the installation storm of the Venice Biennale and ten years across underground pride gatherings, family rupture, asylum, gig work, basement studios, drag stages, and eventual international recognition. Sparks fly. Tires become braided crowns. Chains become ceremonial earrings. Nails become cosmetic armor. Each sculpture reads like a coronation for the previously condemned."
"Ebisiyaga, sugarcane husk a Luganda slur for queer people implies residue and worthlessness. Babirye flips the insult into theology. The husk becomes halo. The thrown-away becomes throne. Her studio becomes a sovereign zone populated by queer ancestors real and imagined rendered as towering totems of dignity and drama. I'm building a queer family, she says. The statement lands as structure, not metaphor."
Rubbish: The Queer Kingdom of Leilah Babirye traces a decade and a concentrated installation period, following Babirye’s evolution from persecution and exile to international recognition. Babirye repurposes rubber, scrap, chains, husks, and shards into towering sculptures that reframe discarded matter as inheritance, coronations, halos, and thrones. Installations and gatherings—from underground pride and drag stages to asylum experiences and the Venice Biennale—anchor the work in lived survival and community. The sculptures declare glamour, kinship, continuance, and political presence, converting social castoffs into a sovereign queer mythology and chosen familial structure.
Read at www.amny.com
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