Omar Ibn Said: Return

He was a scholar before he was enslaved.
Two hundred years later, Buffalo artists carry his words home.

About the Project

Omar ibn Said: Return(ing) is a three-phase cultural exchange centered on the life of Omar ibn Said — a Fulani Muslim scholar born in Futa Toro, Senegal, enslaved in North Carolina, and known for the only surviving autobiography written in Arabic by an enslaved person in the United States.

The project unites three Buffalo artists. Jalen A. Law presents a series of eight oil wash paintings tracing Omar's life from Futa Toro to the Carolinas and back. The project is led by Jalen A. Law, who presents a series of eight oil wash paintings tracing Omar's life from Futa Toro to the Carolinas and back.

The exhibition travels to Dakar and Gorée Island, Senegal, in December 2026, presented at IFAN / Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and the Historical Museum of Gorée in conjunction with the Black Muslim Psychology Conference. In early 2027, the project returns to Buffalo, bringing the documentation, the paintings, and the responses of Senegalese participants back to the East Side community where this work began.

Why it Matters.

Omar ibn Said asked to be seen again in Africa. He never made it home. His words did.

This project carries his scholarship back across the Atlantic — not as a finished act, but as an ongoing one. It connects Buffalo's East Side to a global story of memory, faith, and return. Every voice that joins this work becomes part of that return.

 

Events

Buffalo Pre-Exhibition

November 8, 2026 TBD

Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor

Buffalo, New York A preview of the Omar ibn Said: Return(ing) painting series, with an artist talk, educational materials on Omar ibn Said's life, and a participatory wall where Buffalo community members write messages that will travel to Senegal.

Senegal Exhibition

December 16–19, 2026

Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar/the Historical Museum of Gorée

Dakar and Gorée Island, Senegal

The installation is presented in conjunction with the Black Muslim Psychology Conference 2026. The eight paintings, a site-specific sound work, and a photographic series are shown across two venues, with a participatory wall inviting Senegalese participants to respond.

Meet the Team

  • Jalen A. Law

    Jalen A. Law

    Jalen A. Law is a Buffalo-based interdisciplinary artist, educator, researcher, and founder of The Jalen Law Collection. His practice explores how language, imagery, and narrative shape perceptions of identity, race, and cultural memory. His public work includes projects with the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, the NFTA, and the City of Buffalo, alongside more than a decade of educational programming across Western New York. His current project, Omar ibn Said: Return(ing), marks his first international presentation and will be shown in Dakar and on Gorée Island as part of the 16th Biennale de Dakar OFF Programme and the 2026 Black Muslim Psychology Conference, in collaboration with the Muslim Wellness Foundation’s Omar ibn Said Institute, IFAN/Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, and the Historical Museum of Gorée.

  • “I wish to be seen in our land called Africa, in a place on the river.”

    —Omar Ibn Said (1819)

This Is Bigger Than One Exhibition.

Buffalo speaks. The artwork and collected voices travel to Dakar and Gorée Island. Senegal responds. In 2027, everything returns to Buffalo.

This is a pilot. If it works, it becomes a replicable model for other communities to reclaim displaced histories without massive institutional infrastructure.

Your gift directly funds:

  • The Exchange: Professional documentation in Senegal to ensure the responses make it back to Buffalo.

  • The Model: A successful, professionally executed case study for future cities.

  • The Archive: Preserving every community message to outlast the exhibition itself.

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