2023 Al Burda Award & Exhibition

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, presented awards at the event. Photo: Al Burda Awards

 This November and December it was our privilege to represent the Republic of Senegal as the Guest of Honor at the 17th Al Burda Awards, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Youth of the United Arab Emirates. The West African Calligraphy Institute was recognized for its work in cultural sustainability and preservation in the art of Arabic Calligraphy. Fallou was invited to Abu Dhabi in November to represent the institute as a juror in the category of Modern Arabic Calligraphy.

 On December 20, 2023 at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, the Ministry of Culture and Youth hosted the Al Burda award ceremony. Fallou was present to receive the Al Burda award on behalf of the Institute, and we organized a well received exhibition of 11 of Yelimane’s artworks in the gallery where the ceremony took place. The evening was attended by many, including the Minister of Culture for the Republic of Senegal and other Senegalese artists. Alhumdulilah for this beautiful gathering of Islamic Art, artists, poets, calligrapers, and cultural ministers from around the world. We are grateful to Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Mr. Mahmood Al Najjar, and all of the people that made this year’s awards and ceremony possible.

Centre for Arabic Calligraphy in Nigeria, West Africa

This is news and a shout out to our friend Yeshua Abdullahi doing great work for the art of calligraphy in West Africa. Hattat Yeshua is an esteemed calligrapher, artist, teacher, master of the Tuluth and Naskh scripts, and empowerer of West African calligraphy and calligraphers. He created the first school for writing in the Ottoman style in West Africa, the Research Center for Islamic Art, History, and Culture (the IRCICA) Regional Calligraphy Center in Kaduna, Nigeria. He is doing important work to forge the next generation of West African calligraphers.

From September to December 2022, Fallou travelled to Nigeria to study the Tuluth and Naskh scripts with Hattat Yeshua. We are also laying the foundations for future collaboration, and we thank Mr. Abdullahi for his hospitality, wisdom, and work. We also wish a big congratulations on graduating the first class from the school! May Allah bless Hattat Yeshua and all of his students, and may their beautiful calligraphy bring peace to whomever sees it!

2022/23 Acquisitions

Asalaam alaykum! The West African Calligraphy Institute is happy to announce some recent acquisitions of Yelimane Fall’s work. The Ackland Museum at UNC Chapel Hill is the new home to an amazing collection that focuses on Ahmadou Bamba’s exile during the French occupation of Senegal. This collection serves an interdisciplinary purpose, shining light on the story of Ahmadou Bamba, French colonialism, Senegalese culture, and West African Islam, as well as being an inspirational exemplar of Contemporary African Islamic Art. We know Yelimane would see it as a blessing and protection for students of UNC and people of North Carolina.

Ackland Museum at UNC
Chapel Hill, NC

Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, MA

An extremely important acquisition of some of Yelimane’s major works was also made by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The pieces in this collection are among the finest examples of Yelimane’s signature calligraphie negro africane, and centered on the khassaides (poetry) of Ahmadou Bamba and West African Islam. These powerful pieces demonstrate some of Bamba’s central teachings, while highlighting the richness and diversity of art in the Islamic world.

And finally, two very unique pieces from the Protection Series were acquired by MIT’s Aga Khan Documentation Center. We are humbled and excited that Yelimane’s artwork continues to be exposed to new audiences, furthering the blessing and teachings of Ahmadou Bamba.

We sincerely thank everyone we worked with at these institutions to get more of Yelimane’s calligraphy out into the world. There is truly a beautiful community of people working in the worlds of Islamic and African arts, and it is our hope that some of Yelimane and Fallou’s pieces can be part of bringing people together and doing greater work. These acquisitions have helped the Institute’s mission in Senegal to continue building the school and research center in Sangalkam, and creating a satellite space for guests and workshops in Touba.

Baay Yelimane Fall 1953-2019

Bamba Mos Xam (Bamba, The Taste of Knowledge)

It is crucial to acknowledge and celebrate the role of culture in spreading ideas, preserving knowledge, and growing community.  This is precisely the work of the West African Calligraphy Institute and the artwork of Yelimane Fall. Yelimane draws on the deep cultural heritage of the Muriddiya to represent the khassaides of Serigne Touba, and Bamba’s vision of a society guided by a mystical and inward looking interpretation of Islam.  This wonderful video documentary, put together by Brian Valente-Quinn and Gino Canella out of the University of Colorado (Boulder), looks at how Mouridism has manifested in another cultural format – theatre. Take a moment to enjoy this important documentation of the 1970’s Senegalese theatre troop Bamba Mos Xam and their contemporary counterparts La Compagnie Sant Yalla, along with extensive commentary about Mourdism by intellectuals and artists, including our own Yelimane Fall.

The Paintings of Yelimane Fall: Community, Literacy, and Activism in Islam

The exhibition The Paintings of Yelimane Fall: Community, Literacy, and Activism in Islam was put together at the West African Research Association. After premiering at Boston University, in winter of 2017 it was exhibited at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. It is now available to be shown at participating institutions, with costs going to support Yelimane Fall/West African Calligraphy Institute and the West African Research Association.

From the exhibition:

Senegalese artist and community activist Yelimane Fall has a unique calligraphic style that reflects a vibrant West African aesthetic. His work draws on the teachings of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride Sufi order in Senegal, and focuses on the values of tolerance, self-reliance, and hard work. He also uses Ajami, the Arabic alphabet adapted for writing West African languages, which appeals to wide local audiences throughout West Africa.

The show opens up discussions of Africa, religion, and community, providing a much-needed positive portrayal of the region through modern, familiar, and captivating imagery.

Contact WARA today to learn how you can bring Mr. Fall’s vibrant images to life in your institution.

Exhibition: Magal juli geej gi & magal ñaari raaka

The story of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba is one of spiritual transcendence and resistance to French colonization. Although the French exiled him to Gabon and later Mauritania, attempted to assassinate him many times, and tried to force him to denigrate his religion, Bamba and the Sufi Brotherhood he founded persevered.

© Yelimane Fall

He proved that his sacrifice and loyalty to Allah alone would prevail him from colonial forces, and make his message of peace, work, education, and devotion known throughout Senegal, Africa, and the world. And so it was . . .

© Yelimane Fall

In 2017 & 2018 the West African Calligraphy Institute was (and will always be) proud to exhibit and share calligraphy at 2 of the most important Mouride pilgrimages commemorating Bamba’s alligence to The One and rejection of French violence and hostility: Magal Juli Geej Gi (when Bamba was not allowed to pray during his journey into exile and so he prayed on the ocean) and Magal Ñaari Raaka (when Bamba refused to acknowledge French colonial authorities and prayed 2 raakas to Allah rather than speak to a colonial tribunal).

Maybe this September we’ll see you there, inshallah!

Institut du Monde Arabe exhibition – Islamic Treasures of Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar

From April 14, 2017 to July 30, 2017, Yelimane was part of a widely publicized and highly reviewed exhibition at the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, France.  The exhibition, entitled Treasures of Islam in Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar, was attended by the presidents of France, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Morocco.  A very large piece by Mr. Fall was exhibited alongside a reproduction of the only known photo of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba.

The French international newspaper Le Monde also did a video gallery-walk of the exhibition, and you may see Yelimane Fall’s work (and other examples of African calligraphy and Islamic art) by watching the video embedded in their Compte Rendu: Revivez notre visite de l’exposition « Trésors de l’islam en Afrique » à l’IMA from 4/13/2017 (skip to 23:45).

The president of Morocco thought so highly of the exhibition he is having it brought to the Moroccan capital of Rabat in 2019.

Exhibition with Central Illinois Mosque & Islamic Center

In September 2016, during the celebration of the blessed 10 days of Dhu al-Hijjah and Eid al-Adha, the West African Calligraphy Institute had an exhibition at the Central Illinois Mosque and venue where the Eid celebration was held.

We raised almost $1000 for the Institute and Islamic center.

2015-2016 West Africa Research Association Newsletter

Yelimane wrote an article for the West African Research Association 2015-2016 newsletter, and in conjunction with an exhibition being put on by the center entitled Community, Literacy, and Activism in Islamic Africa: The Paintings of Yelimane Fall.

Update: The exhibition “Community, Literacy, and Activism in Islamic Africa: The Paintings of Yelimane Fall” was most recently shown from August 2017 – December 2017 at Lafayette College in Easton, PA.