From "A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal," 2003:
"Elimane Fall is a charismatic social activits in Pikine, a town a dozen kilometers from Dakar. Monsieur Fall trained in mechanical drawing and design, but some years ago, when he left a professional path to seek fulfillment in Mouridismt, he became a most prolific graphic artist directing his talents to the needs of young prople... Mr. Fall lectures about how the self-destruction of drug abuse, prostitution, and profligacy can be 'turned around' through study of the life and lessons of Amadou Bamba. He also teached visual and practical arts through a community center for which he has recieved funding from a Belgiam nongovernmental organization. Mr. Fall insists that his arts possess an active ability to assist those in need, for they convey the baraka of Amadou Bamba.
Among his other achievements, Mr. Fall has recently created a visually engaging calligraphic script for what he calls 'Black-African needs.' Using carefully cut plasticized paper, the twenty-eight letters of the Arabic alphabet are given 'bodies'--that is, the robust form and spiritual vitality of everyday life in Senegal. Mr. Fall's letters work and work hard. It must be said that for Sufis more generally, the letters, words, phrases, and texts of the Quran are 'not just elements of a written language but beings or personalities for which the calligraphic form is the physical and visual vessel.' Acts of writting and reading establish contact with these 'beings...from the far 'other' shore of universal existence.' Mr. Fall has made access to such an animated essence of writting evident and available through his 'embodied' calligraphy, and in so doing, he brings the blessings of the 'beings' that are his letters to those he hopes to reach, even as he conveys the beauty and purpose of God and His Saint." (pp.186-188)
"An artist, healer, and community activist, Elimane Fall instructs young people about self-reliance through the spiritual teachings of [Sheikh] Amadon Bamba. Fall's paintings combine narrative imagery with calligraphy and offer a contemporary urban edge to long-standing practices of healing in Senegal." (p.165)
"Artist and healer Elimane Fall has created extraordinary works of art on monumental pieces of recycled paper. They merger images of [Sheikh Amadon] Bamba with the khassaids, or odes, the Saint wrote during his lifetime. Mr. Fall uses his paintings to teach and offer guidance to wayward youth in Dakar's inner city. His work shows inventive development of the graphic arts skills he aquired as a student, and his images also possess an active ability to assist those in need." (p. 171)
