We have witnessed numerous engaging documentaries focusing on photographers: Tish Murtha. Perhaps the film medium naturally comes alive when showcasing particularly vivid still images. Today we have a new outstanding example, directed by writer-director Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the impressive professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, artist and civil rights advocate who exemplified a distinct cultural-activist approach.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he pioneered the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the African American women in Harlem: emerging women of color who transformed into the groundbreaking standard for visual appeal, moving beyond typical beauty standards and the usual Eurocentric ideal of womanhood.
The Power of a Revolutionary Slogan
This powerful statement became a transformative unifying message, an visionary concise prose poem for transformation. Merely declaring that people of color possessed beauty emerged as a liberating power in art, social movements and the arts. The photographer grew into integral to the Black power pan-Africanist struggle by documenting the sports icon before his legendary championship fight in the seventies.
He was appointed the exclusive visual documentarian for the Jackson 5's continental journey, and subsequently was named the resident artist for the iconic Harlem venue, building an extraordinary portfolio of African American artists. Alongside Elombe, he became the driving force behind arranging for Nelson Mandela to address the public in the community.
Family Legacy
Brathwaite's son his namesake shares the personal campaign to achieve appropriate credit for his father's legacy after he was hurtfully excluded in the prestigious Smithsonian institution, inaugurated by Barack Obama in 2016.
The film also recounts the inexpressibly painful genesis of Brathwaite's interest in visual storytelling: the shocking images of the young victim, the adolescent Black tragic figure whose bereaved parent boldly insisted on an uncovered casket so the horrific reality of bigoted brutality could not be covered up.
From Tragedy to Beauty
Through this image of horror, the visionary discovered a type of transformative realization that directed him toward photographs of community. His images beautifully expressed empowering beauty and frequently not overtly political: he curated a fresh symbolic representation of strength around which social causes could unite.
The documentary stands as an captivating record of creative genius that still resonate through the years.
