Laylah Amatullah Barrrayn has created a limited-edition monograph entitled We Are Present. There are only 350 copies available.

Laylah amatullah barrayn almost stumbled into Millennium Cuts. She was walking around North Minneapolis and found the barbershop open. Many businesses had closed in the area. She began talking to AJ, the barber and manager of the shop. AJ informed her that George Floyd had been a friend and client for four years. He had just been killed by the police a few days earlier.

The photographer told me that AJ said George Floyd was always interested in the well-being and happiness of his family. “AJ said he’d miss those heartfelt discussions.”

This moment is included in Amatullah Barryn’s historical book 2020 in Portraits along with other moments captured by chance–in many cases, miraculously so–during an year of trauma, pain, resilience and joy. Her portraits, which span cities across the United States, and beyond*, illuminate a unique time in American history and around the world, a year marked by pain but also by hope.

Amatullah’s mother was the family photographer. She passed away just a few short years before 2020. She introduced Amatullah to photography and, through her, Amatullah learned the beauty of quiet moments, as well as the importance of collaboration.

The book is characterized by a sense of connectedness, even and perhaps more so during times of isolation. We travel through the early days of pandemics, protests (15 million to 26 millions people participated across the US, making Black Lives Matter the largest US-wide demonstration in history), and the first doses given of Covid-19.

We Are Present may be about an exact moment in history – the year that changed everything – but it is also a book we can, and should, return to ten years, twenty years, or even a century into the future. Amatullah’s portraits encourage us to read, reread, and revisit. You might notice, when you look at her portrait of AJ from Millennium Cuts again, the barber chair in the background. The photographer said, “You can feel Floyd’s presence in the chair.”

Amatullah Barrayn was kind enough to share more information about the portraits included in the book. Order a copy of the book today.