We have witnessed many fascinating documentaries about photographers: Tish Murtha. It could be the film medium truly excels when presenting particularly vivid visual compositions. Now arrives one more exceptional example, by writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the remarkable life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, artist and African American activist who exemplified a unique politico-aesthetic perspective.
Together with his sibling Elombe, he effectively created the expression “Black Is Beautiful” in the mid-century era by photographing the Grandassa Models in Harlem: young women of color who transformed into the groundbreaking standard for beauty, rejecting traditional cosmetic products and the usual white model of femininity.
The Influence of Three Words
The iconic phrase became a transformative call to action, an visionary three-word declaration for progress. Merely declaring that people of color possessed beauty became a liberating influence in society, politics and the arts. Brathwaite grew into part of the civil rights African diaspora struggle by capturing images of the sports icon leading up to his historic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
He became the primary image creator for the band's international performances, and later was named the official visual chronicler for the iconic Harlem venue, assembling an amazing collection of African American artists. In collaboration with Elombe, he was the key organizer behind securing the South African leader to speak in Harlem.
Family Legacy
His son the younger Brathwaite shares the personal campaign to secure appropriate credit for his family heritage after he was unjustly ignored in the nation's capital's Smithsonian institution, established by Barack Obama in 2016.
The feature also recounts the inexpressibly painful origin of the artist's interest in image making: the shocking photographs of the young victim, the young Black lynching victim whose bereaved parent defiantly insisted on an uncovered casket so the brutal truth of racist violence would not be concealed.
From Tragedy to Beauty
From this vision of horror, the visionary encountered a form of transformative realization that guided him toward visual representations of community. His photographs beautifully expressed community pride and frequently subtle in messaging: he established a innovative iconography of pride through which social causes could mobilize.
This represents an inspiring testament of creative genius that persists in inspire decades later.
