History has seen numerous engaging features focusing on visual artists: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the documentary format naturally comes alive when showcasing exceptionally powerful photographs. Here we have another outstanding case, by writer-director Yemi Bamiro, exploring the impressive professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, musician and African American activist who exemplified a unique politico-aesthetic perspective.
Together with his family member Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the mid-century era by photographing the African American women in New York: youthful women of color who became the transformative archetype for beauty, abandoning traditional cosmetic products and the predominant Eurocentric ideal of female beauty.
The Impact of a Simple Phrase
Black Is Beautiful evolved into a radical call to action, an brilliant concise manifesto for progress. Simply stating that people of color possessed beauty became a transformative influence in culture, social movements and culture. The photographer became integral to the social justice pan-Africanist cause by capturing images of the legendary boxer prior to his iconic championship fight in the seventies.
He served as the exclusive image creator for the Jackson 5's African tour, and later assumed the role of the official visual chronicler for the legendary cultural institution, creating an incredible collection of African American artists. In collaboration with his sibling, he was the key organizer behind arranging for the South African leader to speak in New York.
Historical Recognition
The photographer's offspring the younger Brathwaite recounts the their quest to achieve appropriate credit for his parent's achievements after he was hurtfully ignored in Washington DC's National Museum of African American History and Culture, inaugurated by the former president in this century.
The film further reveals the inexpressibly painful inspiration of Brathwaite's dedication to image making: the horrendous pictures of Emmett Till, the teenage Black tragic figure whose grieving mother defiantly demanded an public viewing so the horrific reality of racial hatred could not be covered up.
Amidst Sorrow to Hope
Through this vision of violence, the visionary discovered a kind of transformative realization that guided him toward photographs of aspiration. His work beautifully expressed celebratory strength and often nuanced in approach: he curated a innovative symbolic representation of empowerment around which activist groups could unite.
It is an captivating chronicle of artistic vision that still resonate across generations.
