There have been many compelling films focusing on photographers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the film medium naturally comes alive when presenting particularly vivid photographs. Now arrives one more outstanding instance, directed by creator Yemi Bamiro, exploring the impressive life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, performer and social justice champion who represented a special cultural-activist vision.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he effectively created the expression “Black Is Beautiful” during the sixties by capturing the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: emerging women of color who transformed into the groundbreaking standard for beauty, abandoning traditional beauty standards and the established white model of femininity.
The Influence of a Simple Phrase
This powerful statement became a radical rallying cry, an inspired concise declaration for progress. Simply declaring that black people radiated beauty emerged as a transformative force in art, social movements and culture. The photographer emerged as integral to the civil rights pan-Africanist cause by photographing Muhammad Ali leading up to his historic championship fight in 1974.
He served as the official image creator for the band's international performances, and subsequently became the house photographer for the legendary Harlem venue, building an incredible collection of African American artists. Together with his brother, he became the key organizer behind securing the South African leader to speak in New York.
Personal Journey
Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite recounts the family's mission to ensure due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was painfully excluded in the nation's capital's cultural museum, opened by Barack Obama in recent years.
This documentary also recounts the profoundly sorrowful origin of Brathwaite's passion for image making: the shocking photographs of the lynching martyr, the adolescent African American lynching victim whose grieving mother courageously insisted on an public viewing so the violent nature of bigoted brutality would not be covered up.
From Tragedy to Empowerment
In this image of violence, Brathwaite discovered a form of anti-epiphany that directed him toward images of community. His work beautifully expressed empowering beauty and frequently subtle in messaging: he established a fresh visual language of empowerment around which activist groups could gather.
The documentary stands as an inspiring chronicle of cultural impact that still resonate decades later.
