Leilah Babirye features in 'New Encounters'
'New Encounters' is the first comprehensive reinstallation of The Columbus Museum of Art's contemporary galleries since the opening of the museum’s Margaret M. Walter Wing in 2015. This reinstallation—which spans the Upper-Level Walter Wing galleries—builds on the momentum generated by its recent acquisition of The Pizzuti, along with gifts and promised gifts received from the Scantland Collection, reconfirming the museum’s commitment to postwar and contemporary art as a cornerstone of its program.
Incorporating over 100 works by 68 artists from the 1940s to the present, highlights include 'Ssempewa from the Kuchu Mamba (Lungfish) Clan' (2022) by Leilah Babirye, which was acquired by The Columbus Museum of Art in 2022.
Organized thematically, 'New Encounters' refocuses attention on the shared experiences and common conditions—including factors both political and personal—that have shaped artistic practice since World War II. Jointly conceived and curated by newly appointed CMA Executive Director and CEO Brooke A. Minto and Daniel Marcus, PhD, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, the installation presents a diverse and intergenerational array of artistic practices, elevating lesser-known works from the collection. New themes explored include the role of identity and difference in postwar abstraction, the rise of televisual and digital images, the reevaluation of sacred art, and artists’ responses to surveillance and social justice movements.
