History has seen countless compelling films about image makers: Tish Murtha. Maybe the documentary format naturally comes alive when displaying remarkably striking visual compositions. Today we have a new exceptional example, by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the impressive career of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, musician and social justice champion who embodied a unique artistic-political vision.
Together with his brother Elombe, he pioneered the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: emerging women of color who became the groundbreaking standard for beauty, abandoning traditional cosmetic products and the predominant Caucasian ideal of female beauty.
The Power of Three Words
Black Is Beautiful became a powerful call to action, an inspired concise manifesto for progress. Simply to assert that African Americans possessed beauty emerged as a empowering force in art, activism and creative expression. Brathwaite grew into a key figure in the Black power global Black movement by capturing images of the sports icon before his legendary Zaire bout in the seventies.
He was appointed the primary image creator for the band's African tour, and subsequently became the house photographer for the iconic cultural institution, building an extraordinary portfolio of musical pioneers. Alongside his brother, he became the driving force behind securing Nelson Mandela to address the public in the community.
Personal Journey
His son his namesake shares the personal campaign to achieve appropriate credit for his parent's achievements after he was hurtfully overlooked in the prestigious National Museum of African American History and Culture, inaugurated by the former president in recent years.
The feature also recounts the deeply tragic genesis of the photographer's interest in visual storytelling: the shocking images of the young victim, the teenage civil rights murder victim whose grieving mother boldly requested an public viewing so the brutal truth of racist violence could not be concealed.
Through Darkness to Hope
From this vision of horror, the visionary found a kind of profound understanding that directed him toward visual representations of beauty. His images beautifully expressed empowering beauty and typically nuanced in approach: he curated a fresh symbolic representation of strength upon which social causes could unite.
The documentary stands as an inspiring record of artistic vision that persists in resonate decades later.
