Gay pride month isn’t fun in Uganda. “It never ends peacefully,” the sculptor Leilah Babirye told The Guardian, describing protests in her native country. “It’s always police raids, and everybody scattering.” In Kampala, where Babirye was born (in 1985) and raised, engaging in gay sex—if you’re caught at it—brings a life sentence in prison. In 2015, after being outed by the homophobic press, Babirye knew it was time to leave. She applied for residencies abroad, landed in New York in 2018, and never looked back. Babirye makes large ceramic portrait sculptures of elemental power, inspired by African Masks and the LGBTQIA+ community. This is her first solo show in the United States. —Elena Clavarino