Khadija Saye

• Name — Khadija Saye • Birth Name — Khadija Mohammadou Saye • Born — 30 July 1992 • Birthplace — Hammersmith, London, England • Died — 14 June 2017 • Place of death — North Kensington, London, England • Death Cause — Grenfell Tower fire • Other Names — Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye • Known for — Photography and artwork • Education — University for the Creative Arts (BA) • Occupation — * Artist • Photographer • Website — sayephoto.format.com/ estateofkhadijasaye.co.uk/

Saye was born in Hammersmith and grew up in Ladbroke Grove. She initially attended the Sion Manning Roman Catholic Girls' School in North Kensington. Her love of photography was fostered by after-school clubs run by IntoUniversity, a programme that seeks to remove barriers to participation in the arts by children from disadvantaged communities. At age 16 she won a scholarship to Rugby School in Rugby. Later she attended the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham and obtained a photography degree. Saye's photography explored her Gambian-British identity. Her series of six wet plate collodion tintypes entitled Dwellings: in this space we breathe, based on Gambian spiritual practices, was exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale from May to November 2017. Saye took part in a BBC TV documentary, Venice Biennale: Sink or Swim, which "follows a team of diverse emerging artists as they install and prepare to launch the first ever Diaspora Pavilion in a Venetian palazzo during the Venice Biennale." Saye was also an activist and educator. She volunteered at Jawaab to educate and empower young Muslims, and from 2015 to 2016 worked at PEER, a comtemporary arts centre in Hoxton, as a Creative Access intern.

Saye lived with her mother, Mary Ajaoi Augustus Mendy, on the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington. She was mentored by artist Nicola Green and became friends with Green's husband, Tottenham MP David Lammy. Both Saye and her mother died in the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.

• Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, 2014 • Diaspora Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pisani S Marina, Venice, Italy, 2017 • Tate Modern, London, 2017 • Actions, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 2018 • In this space we breathe, British Library, London, 2020–21 • Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, British Library, London, 2020–21

The authorities additionally record the headings Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye and Khadija Mohammadou Saye. Her recorded language was English.