History has seen many engaging features focusing on image makers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the documentary format particularly shines when showcasing exceptionally powerful visual compositions. Now comes one more remarkable example, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the remarkable career of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, performer and civil rights advocate who represented a distinct politico-aesthetic approach.
In partnership with his family member Elombe, he pioneered the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the sixties by capturing the Grandassa Models in New York: young African American women who transformed into the groundbreaking standard for aesthetics, abandoning traditional cosmetic products and the established Caucasian ideal of womanhood.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
The iconic phrase evolved into a radical unifying message, an visionary three-word declaration for transformation. Merely to assert that African Americans possessed beauty became a empowering influence in culture, activism and the arts. The artist grew into a key figure in the civil rights pan-Africanist cause by capturing images of the legendary boxer before his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
He was appointed the primary image creator for the Jackson 5's international performances, and later assumed the role of the house photographer for the iconic Harlem venue, assembling an amazing collection of musical pioneers. In collaboration with his brother, he became the central figure behind securing Nelson Mandela to speak in Harlem.
Historical Recognition
The photographer's offspring his namesake recounts the their quest to secure appropriate credit for his father's legacy after he was unjustly ignored in Washington DC's National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened by Barack Obama in recent years.
The film further reveals the profoundly sorrowful inspiration of the artist's interest in visual storytelling: the horrendous pictures of Emmett Till, the teenage Black murder victim whose bereaved parent courageously demanded an uncovered casket so the brutal truth of racial hatred might not be concealed.
Through Darkness to Empowerment
Through this vision of violence, Brathwaite encountered a type of anti-epiphany that led him toward visual representations of aspiration. His work were eloquent of empowering beauty and often subtle in messaging: he established a new symbolic representation of pride upon which social causes could gather.
This represents an inspiring record of cultural impact that persists in resonate across generations.
