History has seen many engaging films highlighting image makers: Tish Murtha. Perhaps the documentary format truly excels when presenting particularly vivid photographs. Here we have one more remarkable example, by creator Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the remarkable career of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, artist and civil rights advocate who embodied a special artistic-political vision.
Alongside his sibling Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by photographing the Harlem models in New York: emerging women of color who emerged as the groundbreaking template for beauty, moving beyond typical beauty standards and the usual Eurocentric standard of femininity.
The Impact of a Simple Phrase
Black Is Beautiful became a transformative call to action, an inspired three-word declaration for progress. Just stating that people of color possessed beauty became a liberating power in culture, politics and culture. Brathwaite became a key figure in the civil rights African diaspora struggle by documenting Muhammad Ali before his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
He was appointed the primary visual documentarian for the band's continental journey, and eventually assumed the role of the house photographer for the legendary cultural institution, building an incredible portfolio of musical pioneers. Together with his brother, he was the driving force behind bringing Nelson Mandela to address the public in the community.
Personal Journey
His son the younger Brathwaite shares the their quest to achieve appropriate credit for his father's legacy after he was unjustly excluded in Washington DC's cultural museum, opened by the former president in 2016.
The film additionally explores the profoundly sorrowful origin of Brathwaite's dedication to photography: the disturbing photographs of the lynching martyr, the adolescent Black lynching victim whose bereaved parent boldly demanded an uncovered casket so the horrific reality of racist violence might not be covered up.
Through Darkness to Hope
In this vision of horror, Brathwaite found a form of anti-epiphany that guided him toward visual representations of beauty. His images powerfully conveyed empowering beauty and frequently not overtly political: he curated a innovative visual language of strength through which political movements could mobilize.
It is an inspiring testament of creative genius that still inspire through the years.
