Gallery Talk: Ruth Erickson on Leilah Babirye: Embaga ya Naki ne Naki (Wedding of Naki and Naki)

Youre invited to   Leilah Babirye: Embaga ya Naki ne Naki (Wedding of Naki and Naki) !  Inspired by the idea of the queer wedding, artist Leilah Babirye debuts a new body of sculptures, each embodying a role in a wedding ceremony and adorned in headdresses and jewelry. Join Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Public Affairs Ruth Erickson for a conversation on Leilah Babirye: Embaga ya Naki ne Naki (Wedding of Naki and Naki) and learn about Babiryes vivid installation and inventive use of debris, wood, and ceramics. About Ruth Erickson Barbara  Lee  Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial  Affairs  Ruth Erickson  has  been a driving force in the ICA’s curatorial department since joining the museum in 2014. Among her many projects, she has organized major thematic group exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed  To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood   (2022) ,   A Place for Me: Figurative Painting Now   (2022) , and   When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art   (2019) ; a significant artist survey and publication   Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist   (2017) ; and solo presentations of   María Berrío   (2023) ,   Barbara Kruger   (2022) ,   Vivian Suter   (2019) ,   Wangechi Mutu   (2018) , and   Kevin Beasley   (2018) , among others. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the 2015 exhibition and publication   Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–57   (for which she was co-editor and served as research fellow), Ruth Asawa: All is Possible (2021),  Kevin Beasley   (2018) ,  Sue Williams (2015), and Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology (2014). Before joining the ICA, Erickson was a fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia (2008–10) and served as curator at Burlington City Arts (BCA) (2004–7). She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, and her B.A. from Carleton College, Northfield, MN. Erickson is the recipient of a prestigious Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship in 2021.   Leilah Babirye: Embaga ya Naki ne Naki (Wedding of Naki and Naki) is organized by Ruth Erickson, Barbara Lee Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, with Max Gruber, Curatorial Assistant. Major support for the exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support is provided by Mathieu O. Gaulin and the Jennifer Epstein Fund for Women Artists.