We have witnessed countless engaging features highlighting photographers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps cinematic storytelling particularly shines when displaying particularly vivid still images. Now comes a new exceptional case, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, exploring the extraordinary professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, performer and social justice champion who embodied a distinct artistic-political vision.
Together with his brother Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the African American women in Harlem: young women of color who emerged as the transformative template for aesthetics, moving beyond typical cosmetic products and the predominant Caucasian standard of female beauty.
The Power of Three Words
The iconic phrase became a radical unifying message, an inspired memorable prose poem for progress. Simply stating that African Americans possessed beauty proved to be a liberating power in culture, activism and creative expression. The artist grew into part of the civil rights African diaspora movement by documenting Muhammad Ali before his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He served as the primary photographer for the band's African tour, and later became the house photographer for the legendary Harlem venue, building an extraordinary archive of musical pioneers. Together with his brother, he was the driving force behind bringing the South African leader to address the public in New York.
Family Legacy
Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite shares the their quest to ensure due acknowledgment for his family heritage after he was unjustly excluded in the nation's capital's Smithsonian institution, established by the political leader in this century.
The feature additionally explores the inexpressibly painful genesis of the photographer's passion for image making: the horrendous images of the lynching martyr, the adolescent African American lynching victim whose mourning family member defiantly requested an open coffin so the violent nature of racist violence could not be hidden.
From Tragedy to Beauty
From this representation of horror, the visionary found a kind of anti-epiphany that directed him toward photographs of beauty. His photographs beautifully expressed empowering beauty and frequently subtle in messaging: he established a new symbolic representation of empowerment upon which political movements could gather.
The documentary stands as an inspiring record of artistic vision that continues to resonate across generations.
