Current Information

Please visit the link below for current images and information on Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, thank you!

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn Photography

Obama Show!

Kindred Cool WEBSITE!

Visit us at 

www.KindredCool.org

My next exhibition - Kindred Cool opening August 3

Save the date!

Kindred Cool
Portraits inspired by the jazz friendship of Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray and Romare Bearden

Photography by Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

Opening Reception: August 3, 2008
Exhibition Dates: August 3 - September 14, 2008

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts
Foyer Gallery
80 Hanson Place
(at South Portland Avenue, around the corner from Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Brooklyn, New York 11217

2, 3, 4, B, Q, D, N, R, M trains to Atlantic Avenue
C train to Lafayette Avenue
G train to Fulton Street
Buses B25, B26, B52, B38

www.MoCADA.org

The Kindred Cool exhibition seeks to pays homage to the jazz friendship of Romare Bearden, Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray. Each photograph is composed of three individuals, trios, who are bonded by jazz.

The subjects of Kindred Cool are a motley crew of jazz educators, vocal and instrumental musicians, visual artists, journalists, publicists, band leaders and institution heads. Some participants to be photographed for the Kindred Cool exhibition are drummer, Jason Marsalis; MC and producer, Ladybug Mecca; trombonist, Dick Griffin; professor and historian, Robin Kelley; producer and musician, DJ Spooky; pianist, Vijay Iyer; vocalist and actress, Rhonda Ross; writer and musician, Greg Tate; musician, Brian Jackson; professor Farah Jasmine Griffin; photographer Gerald Cyrus; percussionist, Will Calhoun; pianist, Geri Allen, among many constituents of the 'jazz society.'

The Kindred Cool exhibition is inspired by the friendship of three of America's most prolific culture shapers: Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray and painter Romare Bearden. Individually, these three intellectuals have influenced the zeitgeist of their respected disciplines - visual art, literary fiction and the art of the essay. Their major bond was American classical music: jazz. Bearden, Ellison and Murray were certified jazzmen, riffing off one another's ideas of Americaness, Blackness and what constitutes quality writing. The values associated with jazz were manifested in their art, philosophy and modus operandi. Bearden's affinity for the music was internalized and manifested through masterfully crafted paintings and collages. The cadence of Ellison's and Murray's sentences loudly echoes the sensibilities of thoughtfully arranged chords. Bearden, Ellison and Murray possessed an important friendship that was well documented in scholarly writings, essay collections and witnessed throughout fine art circles.

My New Show!

I'm curating a new show, opening September 9th at The Gallery at Harriet's Alter Ego.

For more information click here.

Wish Lists?

Has anyone ever brought anything for you from your wish lists? I have one wish list on Target and one on Amazon.com. I think I'm going to start directing folks to my wish lists. I don't mind a surprise gift at all, lol!

Minneapolis, here I come!!!

THE ART OF T&A...TRUTH AND ACTIVISM
Opening, Thursday, June 28 @ Intermedia Arts Center, 6-9pm
Featuring the works of some really, really fly chicks, including moi, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn!

Be there, or you know what...

(more for your mind www.intermediaarts.org)

When are we going back to Dizzy's Club?

I'm saying, when are you taking me back to Jazz at Lincoln Center?

Laylah in the background...

Thank you Terrance for the picture. I had no idea that you were taking a picture of Tariq and had me in the background. I would have loved to take a picture WITH Tariq...but maybe nextime...

I'm in a new exhibition!! The Art of Truth and Activism...

If you're in Minneapolis, come check out me and my photography on June 28, 6pm @ Intermedia Arts!




"The Art of T&A… Truth and Activism"
A multi-disciplinary, cutting edge international group exhibition that highlights women's visual voice through the aesthetic lens of Hip-Hop culture.
Curated by DeAnna Cummings and Assistant Curator Michelle Spaise

Exhibit Dates: June 21 - September 9, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 28, 2007, 6 - 9:30pm

Intermedia Arts
Main Gallery
2822 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 871-4444 - http://www.intermediaarts.org

Featuring installations by Joy E. A. Spika (Chicago) and Lady Pink (New York)

...and featuring visual art by

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn (Brooklyn, New York) - that's me!!!
B Fresh (Minneapolis),
B-Girl Yoda (Kahuku, Hawaii),
Keina Davis Elswick (San Francisco),
Erotica 67 (New York),
Faith47 (Capetown, South Africa),
Femme9 (Kansas City),
Krista Franklin (Chicago),
Gitana (Puerto Rico),
Julie Graves (Minneapolis),
INDIE 184 (New York),
Indigo (Minneapolis),
Monica R. Kelly (Savannah, Georgia),
Lauri Lyons (Harlem, New York),
Diana McClure (New York),
Alice Mizrachi (New York),
motel7 (Capetown, South Africa),
Niz (Florida),
Jill Rothenberger (Minneapolis),
Rukus (Minneapolis),
smirk (Gallen, Switzerland),
Stacey Flyjawn Wilson (Philadelphia),
Stef Skills (Chicago),
Toofly (New York),
Sarah White (Minneapolis),
Keegan Xavi (Los Angeles)

Intermedia Arts is a multidisciplinary arts center, a gathering place where we can share stories through visual arts, theater, dance, music, literature--from folk arts to hip-hop culture.

"The Art of T&A… Truth and Activism" is being held in conjunction with the 3rd Annual B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip-Hop, a multimedia festival encompassing the four elements of hip-hop: MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti—and more. The mission of B-Girl Be is to influence and inspire leadership to change the perceptions and roles of women in hip-hop for current and future generations. This annual event is a place to make connections, build confidence, sharpen skills and gain access to the tools to create music, film, poetry, rap, aerosol art and dance. For more information please visit http://www.intermediaarts.org/Pages/Programs/b-girl_be/

Generous funding provided by The Ford Foundation, The Mall of America Foundation, Fredrikson & Byron, National Performance Network, Red Bull and Sun Country Airlines. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the National Performance Network’s Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.
For more information: www.npnweb.org.

Where's the party at?

So, I have returned to school (gasp!), I'm only taking two classes this semester, one an expository writing class and another a new media class. I'm bored. Who would have known? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be back in school, supposed to be graduating next year, yay, but I'm just so bored. Every time I look in the sky and see a plane, I wish that I was on it. I wish I was walking down some bumpy, cobblestone street eating some frtiz and mayo in Amsterdam. I wish I was in Chinatown in Malaysia or eating creamy vanilla ice cream in Bo Kaap in Cape Town or chilling with the fortune tellers in Marrakech. I'm so bored!!!! NYC is supposed to be the jumpoff (it is, no doubt) but I feel so landlocked! I need to be abroad.....

Two Quickies...

A nearly orgasmic keytar solo by Kamal (I wish I had the whole solo, it's hot. Heck, The Roots Game Theory tour is just bananas! I'm going to put up the Roxanne remake, straight fiyah!

&

A hella crazy story by Kamal

I am Malcolm X.

Some Pics from Egypt

Just a few pics from Egypt. I took these pics playing around with the camera on my Macbook, the real pics were taken with film, which is probably being dunked and dipped in some chemicals as we speak. Stay tuned!



Me at JFK Airport (Formerly Idlewild Airport, did u know that?) I was eating pizaa from Sabarro, fyi, lol!


Gettin ready to go!


Royal Jordanian gettin ready to go...


Also, getting ready to go...


That's my whip!!!! That's my ride! What do you think? Outta sight!


Just landed at Cairo International Airport...Nosey, all in the camera!!!


Cairo at night...

My hotel, fresh fruits on the table...


the most comfortable bed in the world.


My bubble bath, filled with Cristal. Just kidding...


Cairo by day...


Egyptian Silver is pretty, purchased at the Khan el Khalilli market


The Nile river, view from my room...



Faloos...Let me know if you need a loan...I got 5 Egyptian pounds, aight! Balllin...


Off to Abu Simbel (where I would eventually be stranded cause the plan broke...)


Lake Nasser. Such a calming body of water..



Lake Nasser is so BEAUTIFUL....I cannot express the tranquility of sitting on this lake...


Don't I look calm?


Ah, I love lake Nasser...


Me in front of the Temple of Ramses the 2nd...


Me in front of the Temple of Nefertari


The temple of Ramses the 2nd



My room on my cruise ship, I took a 3 day cruise on the Nile..Abercrombie & Kent is the bomb..


Nile view from my room on the boat....


My hotel at Hurghada, the lobby...

Okay, I'm done for now, more later, peace.

I miss Egypt

The Temple of Ramsees at Abu Simbel, taken with the Macbook.

Self Portrait

Mademoiselle D'Gascony

Do you know how much I love Wynton Marsalis' Mademoiselle D'Gascony? When I think of how it would be if this song did not exist in my life and I get moody. Grrrr. I remember exactly when we met. It was 2001, I went to Ernie Pannicioli's photo studio in midtown and he'd just finished a shoot. We were waiting for a few other folks so we can leave and finish working on the hip hop photo anthology. So, he took some CDs and put Wynton on the CD player. At first I didn't pay any attention, but he gave me the CD to take home. I got home a listened to the entire thing. Of course, I fell in love with Sunflowers. In the next few days I discovered the track, Mademoiselle D'Gascony. It's a tangled web for 4 notes, played over and over in a game of mathematic probability. It's a sonic love potion as well as a lullaby. Gosh, I love this song, it does it for me every time.

Check out Wynton in 1982, yall don't know how fly he is...

Whenever you need these things, they hide from you! I just need to print one frame and I canno t, for the life of me, find this one particular strip of negative. It's insane I tell you. I mean, I've been looking all night, I even came across negatives I haven't seen in years! I need to find my negatives!

powerHouse Gallery

powerHouse had a GREAT opening reception for the No Sleep Till Brooklyn exhibition. DJ Red Alert on the 1s and 2s, legendary graf writers, bgirls and bboys in the house and just cool people. not to mention, my homie Delphine Fawundu-Buford had 4 pieces in the show. I had a ball...now for tonight: 3rd Wave: The Planet of Brooklyn Transitions @ the BAC Gallery, see u there?

(pic by Prof Joe Schloss)

John Legend

Do you like John Legend's new song and video?

Donny and Roberta

Donny and Roberta in the kitchem making some soul food...