Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Black and Tan Fantasy –
      Travels of a female Muslim Photographer

     The work of emerging photojournalist, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, entitled, “Black and Tan Fantasy” (from the Duke Ellington musical suite), displaying images of several of her traveling assignments in Africa is currently on display at Calabar Imports, 820 Washington Ave, Brooklyn, New York Laylah who did her first photographic images on assignment with a point and shoot camera, as a freshman, for her college newspaper covering the Million Women’s March, has come a long way, doing assignments for Vibe Magazine to countries including, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Morocco and Jamaica.

Basically self-taught, she later took some courses at Chiek Ant Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. Laylah was inspired by the works of other leading female photographers, Deborah Willis and Carrie Mae Weems. 

     Vibe.com sent her to South Africa to write about Jazz as a music of resistance during the Anti-Apartheid struggle and the capture the “musicality” of the people of that vibrant country whose musical influences and inspirations came African-American musicians. She sought to challenge the imagery of the people of South Africa that was forced on us by the major media of the Western world. She traveled much of the country, Pinetown, outside of Durban, Capetown’s Long Street clubs, Johannesburg and Soweto even though she was warned that it was very dangerous for her to go there.

    One of the clubs that impressed her the greatly was “The Rainbow Club” which was the first club that defied the Apartheid laws and featured both African and European musicians and patrons during the era during the liberation struggle for majority rule. They were looking to be progressive, to create new boundaries, to push the boundaries.

     Her coverage of the Capetown Jazz Festival and South African youth’s use of jazz as political resistance and making it on their own was one of her favorite assignments.

     One of her treasured memories was her trip to Morocco and her assignment on “The Secrets of Medina” visiting the 2000 year-old Medina, the old city which is partially underground, and where out of view to the outside edifice, is a hidden city, with many different elements, hidden palaces, sacred music festivals and traditional culture of Morocco.

    Black and white and color images from her travels displayed thru February 28 include photos from Soweto, Jamaica, Senegale’s Goree Island and others.