We have witnessed numerous compelling documentaries about image makers: Vivian Maier. Maybe cinematic storytelling particularly shines when showcasing remarkably striking visual compositions. Today we have one more remarkable instance, directed by writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the impressive life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, performer and civil rights advocate who represented a unique politico-aesthetic perspective.
In partnership with his family member Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” in the 1960s by photographing the Harlem models in Harlem: young Black women who emerged as the transformative template for beauty, rejecting typical cosmetic products and the established Caucasian standard of femininity.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
This powerful statement transformed into a transformative rallying cry, an brilliant three-word manifesto for transformation. Simply to assert that black people possessed beauty emerged as a liberating influence in art, activism and culture. Brathwaite became a key figure in the civil rights pan-Africanist cause by photographing the sports icon prior to his iconic championship fight in 1974.
He served as the exclusive image creator for the Jackson 5's continental journey, and later assumed the role of the official visual chronicler for the legendary Apollo theatre, assembling an incredible archive of black musicians. Alongside Elombe, he became the driving force behind securing the South African leader to appear in Harlem.
Family Legacy
His son his namesake recounts the personal quest to secure due acknowledgment for his father's legacy after he was painfully excluded in the nation's capital's National Museum of African American History and Culture, established by Barack Obama in recent years.
The feature additionally explores the profoundly sorrowful origin of the artist's dedication to image making: the horrendous pictures of the young victim, the adolescent civil rights tragic figure whose grieving mother defiantly requested an open coffin so the violent nature of racist violence might not be concealed.
Through Darkness to Empowerment
Through this representation of tragedy, Brathwaite encountered a type of transformative realization that led him toward images of community. His work beautifully expressed community pride and often not overtly political: he established a fresh symbolic representation of pride through which activist groups could gather.
It is an captivating chronicle of artistic vision that still inspire decades later.
