LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN: BAYE FALL: ROOTS IN SPIRITUALITY, FASHION, AND RESISTANCE

Baye Fall: Roots in Spirituality, Fashion, and Resistance is a stunning photographic series by award-winning New York-based documentary photographer Laylah Amatullah Barrayn.

The exhibition encompasses the culture and people of the Baye Fall, Senegal’s Sufi Muslim order also known as the Mourides. With their distinctive appearances, the Baye Fall have strongly infiltrated Senegalese culture: their patchwork attires, "locked" or dreaded hair accompanied by prayer beads, talismans and rhythmic drumming and mesmerizing chanting are now commonly seen across Senegal.

Observing their daily routines, beliefs, rituals and physical labor, the Baye Fall have grown in strength and numbers. Accounting for almost 40% of Senegal’s population, the Mourides have grown rapidly since the Baye Fall founder and leader, Cheikh Amadou Bamba, established the order in 1883 along with his most distinguished adherent Ibrahima Fall, for which the suborder was named.

This series provides a colorful peek into the lives and culture of the Baye Fall, along with a more in-depth look that reveals how, with time, the political, social and economic philosophies of the Baye Fall have been heavily influenced by indigenous philosophy as well as pre- and post-colonization by the French.

Barrayn’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, OkayAfrica, Vogue, PDN, CBS, and Quartz Africa, among other publications. She has curated exhibitions at the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Port Authority of NY/NJ, and galleries and non-traditional spaces. She has given talks on her photography at Yale University, The International Center of Photography, New York University, Howard University, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Her work also has been published in the Smithsonian-produced anthology, "BLACK: A Celebration of a Culture,” and she is the author of the recently released, “MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.”

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn: Baye Fall: Roots in Spirituality, Fashion, and Resistance is on view March 24 through July 15, 2018, in the Media Lab. The exhibition is sponsored by The Secular Society.