History has seen countless engaging documentaries about visual artists: Tish Murtha. Perhaps the documentary format particularly shines when showcasing remarkably striking photographs. Today we have one more exceptional example, from filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, documenting the impressive professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, performer and civil rights advocate who exemplified a special cultural-activist vision.
Alongside his sibling Elombe, he effectively created the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” during the sixties by photographing the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: youthful Black women who emerged as the sensational template for beauty, abandoning traditional beauty standards and the predominant white model of female beauty.
The Influence of a Revolutionary Slogan
The iconic phrase evolved into a transformative rallying cry, an visionary three-word declaration for transformation. Simply declaring that black people were beautiful proved to be a liberating influence in culture, activism and the arts. The artist emerged as part of the Black power African diaspora movement by documenting the legendary boxer leading up to his iconic championship fight in the seventies.
He became the exclusive visual documentarian for the band's African tour, and later was named the official visual chronicler for the historic cultural institution, building an extraordinary archive of musical pioneers. Alongside his brother, he was the key organizer behind arranging for the anti-apartheid icon to address the public in Harlem.
Personal Journey
Brathwaite's son his namesake shares the their quest to ensure due acknowledgment for his father's legacy after he was painfully excluded in the prestigious cultural museum, opened by the former president in recent years.
This documentary also recounts the inexpressibly painful origin of Brathwaite's dedication to visual storytelling: the disturbing images of the young victim, the adolescent civil rights lynching victim whose mourning family member defiantly insisted on an public viewing so the violent nature of bigoted brutality would not be concealed.
From Tragedy to Hope
From this image of violence, the artist discovered a form of anti-epiphany that led him toward photographs of beauty. His images were eloquent of empowering beauty and typically subtle in messaging: he developed a fresh visual language of empowerment through which political movements could mobilize.
It is an inspiring testament of cultural impact that continues to resonate decades later.
