Uganda-born activist and artist Leilah Babirye (Fire Island Artist Residency 2015) has a new show, “Amatwaale Ga Ssekabaka Mwanga II” (The Empire of King Mwanga II),” concurrent with Daphne Fitzpatrick’s show “3 Dollar Bill,” on display at Gordon Robichaux, on Union Square, at 22 East 17th Street/41 Union Square West, #925, through June 17.
Leilah, who was recently granted asylum in the United States, greeted visitors to the opening reception, on April 29, dressed, she told me, in formal attire that a man would wear to be presented to the King of Buganda, an empire that exists within Uganda. I photographed her with her new sculptures (clockwise, from lower left) “Namasole Nakatya” (Queen Mother of Ssekabaka Mwanga II), utilizing glazed ceramic, wire, and found objects; “Omulangila Semakokilo” (Prince of the Buganda Kingdom), of wood, metal, nails, and found objects; “Omumbejja Sangalyabongo” (The Only Daughter of Nagginda, the Wedded Queen of Buganda), made from wood, metal, nails, glue, and found objects; and “Omulangila Jjunju” (Prince of the Buganda Kingdom), a work of wood, metal, nails, glue, and found objects. Among the royal figures evoked here are Mwanga II (1868-1903), the gay or bisexual Bugandan King, who fought against Christian missionaries, who were bent on converting his people, and Sylvia Nagginda (born in 1964), the currently reigning Nnabagereka or Bugandan Queen. The opposition of Mwanga II to missionaries’ proselytizing in his country was echoed recently by Ugandan LGBT activists’ fight against the country’s heinous 2013 anti-homosexuality act—penalizing homosexuality with life imprisonment, and ruled unconstitutional in 2014—passage of which was inspired by the preaching of foreign homophobic missionaries, which has resulted in considerable anti-LGBT violence, including fatalities. Many of Leilah’s works incorporate locks, chains, bolts, and a mousetrap, reflecting the perilous situation of gays and lesbians in her native land.
I photographed Daphne with her new works “Ramp #3,” composed of plywood, wood, and screws, and displayed on the window, “Carson McCullers in a Suit,” a backlit, apparently double-exposed image of a translucent light bulb, printed on Duratrans. Like Leilah, Daphne uses found objects in many of her works, which evoke such icons, in addition to McCullers, as Walt Whitman, Jean Genet and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.
See Leilah Babirye and Daphne Fitzpatrick’s work at Gordon Robichaux Fridays through Sundays, from noon to 6 p.m., or by appointment by emailing gordonrobichaux@gmail.com.