Laylah Amatullah Barrayn '21 Curated Exhibition from private collection of Ice T & DJ Afrika Islam

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn '21 (MA, Art & Public Policy) has curated a new exhibition at Harvard University, celebrating 50 years of hiphop culture through the archives of hiphop icons and longtime collaborators Ice T and DJ Afrika Islam.

Day One DNA: 50 Years in Hiphop Culture is an immersive multimedia exhibition, featuring a collection that has been assembled over decades. On view are items such as tour laminates, studio reels, archival photographs, party fliers, magazines, custom-made garments, jewelry, musical instruments, and recording equipment. Day One DNA celebrates Ice T and DJ Afrika Islam's legacy while journeying through their creative process and influences that sustained their careers.

The exhibition is on view from November 3, 2023, to May 31, 2024, at The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery.

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is a documentary photographer, writer, and curator. Her curatorial projects include exhibitions for the US Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Brooklyn Historical Society, and Photoville. Barrayn is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and has been commissioned by publications including The Guardian, Le Monde, and National Geographic. Barrayn’s photography is featured in the anthology Black: A Celebration of a Culture (Hylas/Smithsonian) by Deborah Willis; Photography, A Feminist History (Chronicle/Tate Modern) by Emma Lewis; and the forthcoming Eyes That Commit (Prestel) by Renée Mussai, among other books on photography. In 2017, Barrayn co-authored MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, the first anthology in 30 years highlighting African diasporic women photographers. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions at The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, CA., and The Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, VA. She has shown collectively at the MANIFESTA Biennale in Italy, the Brighton Photo Biennial in the UK, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL. She holds an M.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.