History has seen numerous compelling features focusing on photographers: Tish Murtha. Maybe the film medium truly excels when showcasing exceptionally powerful visual compositions. Now arrives a new exceptional example, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the remarkable professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, artist and civil rights advocate who represented a special cultural-activist approach.
Together with his family member Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the sixties by photographing the Grandassa Models in Harlem: young Black women who became the transformative template for beauty, rejecting typical grooming practices and the established Caucasian model of female beauty.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
This powerful statement evolved into a radical unifying message, an brilliant memorable prose poem for progress. Merely declaring that African Americans were beautiful emerged as a transformative power in culture, activism and the arts. The artist emerged as integral to the social justice pan-Africanist struggle by documenting Muhammad Ali prior to his legendary Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
He served as the exclusive visual documentarian for the Jackson 5's African tour, and subsequently became the resident artist for the historic Harlem venue, building an incredible portfolio of black musicians. In collaboration with his brother, he became the key organizer behind bringing Nelson Mandela to speak in the community.
Personal Journey
The photographer's offspring the younger Brathwaite recounts the their mission to secure due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was painfully excluded in the prestigious Smithsonian institution, inaugurated by the political leader in recent years.
The film additionally explores the profoundly sorrowful origin of the artist's passion for image making: the horrendous photographs of the lynching martyr, the adolescent civil rights murder victim whose bereaved parent boldly insisted on an open coffin so the horrific reality of bigoted brutality would not be covered up.
Amidst Sorrow to Empowerment
Through this vision of horror, Brathwaite discovered a kind of transformative realization that directed him toward visual representations of community. His images powerfully conveyed celebratory strength and often nuanced in approach: he curated a innovative symbolic representation of strength upon which activist groups could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an inspiring record of artistic vision that continues to resonate through the years.
