LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN is a Brooklyn-based...

FRESH, BOLD, & SO DEF

Fresh, Bold, & So Def (FBSD) is a women and gender research and archive project created to empower and cultivate women in Hip-Hop through a social enterprise solution’s model that is both educational and entrepreneurial. Incubated at the Hip-Hop Education Center at New York University's Metropolitan Center, the objective of FBSD is to promote positive images and motivational stories of powerful women in diverse roles and leadership positions within Hip-Hop culture through an educational platform that can be used in classrooms, libraries, museums, community centers, public forums, employment centers, and correctional facilities.

LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN is a Brooklyn-based photographer. She has been creating images through analog and digital photography since the late ’90s. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has been published in the Smithsonian-produced anthology, BLACK: A Celebration of a Culture, edited by photo historian Deborah Willis of New York University. She has curated exhibitions at the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Port Authority of NY/NJ, galleries and non-traditional spaces. Her writings have appeared in Vibe, Essence, The Source, Complex among other publications. The Jazz Journalist Association awarded her the Clarence Atkins Writing Fellowship in 2005. Laylah was recently profiled in exposure the journal of The Society for Photographic Education. In September 2011, Skylight Gallery will mount her third solo exhibition which focuses on literacy and women writers of color. http://thinklove.carbonmade.com