*This story is brought to you by Most Incredible Studio founder Syreeta Gates as a part of our Because Of You: Legacy in Focus campaign honoring contemporary Black photographers*
She’s helping to shape our narrative!
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn constructs narratives, curates history, and amplifies the voices of the African diaspora with a lens sharpened by decades of experience. As a documentary and portrait photographer, writer, and curator, Barrayn’s work is a force that preserves Black stories with reverence and precision.
Her name is etched in some of the most influential publications of our time—The New York Times, Vogue, National Geographic, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, The Nation, and Le Monde. She has traveled the world, documenting Black communities in Minneapolis, Senegal, Martinique, and beyond, always centering culture, tradition, and the nuanced experiences of Black women.
Barrayn’s photography isn’t about spectacle; it’s about presence. She understands that representation means nothing without dignity, depth, and truth. Her 2020 monograph, We Are Present, is a testament to that philosophy, capturing portraits of resilience in a year that challenged everything.
“For me, photography is about bearing witness—about honoring what is, even when the world refuses to see it,” Barrayn says.
Her expertise extends beyond the camera. As a curator, she has shaped exhibitions at the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Brooklyn Historical Society, and Bamako Encounters—African Biennale of Photography. Each exhibition is a conversation, a layered storytelling experience crafted through archival materials, ephemera, and a masterful use of space.
In 2017, Barrayn co-authored MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora with my very good sis Adama Delphine Fawundu, the first anthology in nearly 30 years to highlight the work of Black women photographers. The book is more than a collection of images—it’s a correction of history, a refusal to allow Black women’s contributions to go unseen.
“We had to create our own archive because history was not archiving us,” she explains.
Barrayn’s dedication to ensuring Black women photographers receive their due recognition is an ongoing mission. Her forthcoming book on contemporary Black photographers continues this work, providing visibility, context, and celebration for those shaping the future of visual storytelling.
Barrayn’s eye is drawn to the richness of Black life—faith, family, movement, ritual. Her work explores the complexities of religion, migration, social justice, and cultural preservation across the diaspora. Whether she’s capturing a quiet moment of prayer or the vibrant expressions of a community festival, every frame is intentional.
“Black people have always been visual storytellers. We have always documented ourselves, even when the world didn’t think we were worth remembering,” she says.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, from solo exhibitions at The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco to collective showcases at the Brighton Photo Biennial in the UK and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. It lives in permanent collections at institutions like the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture because it is history—crafted in real-time.
For Barrayn, creativity thrives in openness, exploration, and the freedom to experiment. She sees play not as a distraction but as a foundation for discovery and artistic expansion.
“Play is essential to the creative process. It is how we discover, experiment, and push boundaries within our art,” she shares. “Some of the most compelling images emerge when we step outside of rigid compositions and embrace spontaneity. Play fosters joy and curiosity, and that energy translates into the final image. Joy, as we know, is also the backbone of resistance”.
This philosophy aligns perfectly with the Because of You: Legacy in Focus project from Because Of Them We Can, and Most Incredible Studio, where play and hands-on creativity meet photography and cultural preservation through LEGO. The ability to build, construct, and physically shape a story through objects reinforces the act of remembering and archiving in an interactive way.
Barrayn’s impact extends into academia, where she has shared her expertise at Yale, Harvard, Tate Modern, NYU, and The International Center of Photography. Her work has earned her a place among the Royal Photographic Society’s Hundred Heroines, a distinction recognizing women shaping photography’s future.
But accolades are not the measure of her work—its legacy is. Her images demand that the world pay attention, that Black stories be archived with care, with truth, and with the dignity they deserve.
For Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, photography is not just a profession. It is an act of remembrance, a reclamation, a way to say: We were here. We are here. And we will always be present.
Cover photo: Meet Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, the Award-Winning Portrait Photographer Documenting the Diaspora With Power & Purpose/Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, 2019/Photo Credit: Karston Tannis/@SkinnyWasHere/OkayAfrica