There have been countless engaging documentaries about photographers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the documentary format particularly shines when displaying particularly vivid photographs. Today we have another outstanding case, by creator Yemi Bamiro, documenting the impressive life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, artist and social justice champion who represented a unique artistic-political approach.
Together with his family member Elombe, he effectively created the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the 1960s by capturing the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: emerging women of color who transformed into the transformative standard for visual appeal, rejecting traditional cosmetic products and the established white model of femininity.
The Impact of a Simple Phrase
Black Is Beautiful became a transformative unifying message, an brilliant memorable prose poem for progress. Merely to assert that people of color were beautiful proved to be a liberating power in culture, social movements and culture. The artist became a key figure in the civil rights pan-Africanist cause by capturing images of the legendary boxer prior to his legendary championship fight in 1974.
He served as the exclusive image creator for the musical group's continental journey, and later was named the official visual chronicler for the historic Harlem venue, building an extraordinary portfolio of black musicians. In collaboration with his brother, he emerged as the key organizer behind arranging for the anti-apartheid icon to appear in the community.
Personal Journey
His son his namesake shares the their mission to achieve due acknowledgment for his father's legacy after he was unjustly ignored in the nation's capital's National Museum of African American History and Culture, established by the political leader in 2016.
The film also recounts the profoundly sorrowful genesis of the photographer's dedication to visual storytelling: the disturbing photographs of the young victim, the young African American murder victim whose bereaved parent boldly requested an uncovered casket so the brutal truth of racial hatred could not be covered up.
Through Darkness to Hope
From this representation of horror, the artist found a type of profound understanding that guided him toward images of aspiration. His photographs were eloquent of empowering beauty and often subtle in messaging: he developed a new iconography of empowerment around which activist groups could gather.
It is an inspiring chronicle of artistic vision that still inspire through the years.
