There have been countless engaging films about visual artists: Martin Parr. Maybe the film medium particularly shines when presenting remarkably striking visual compositions. Now comes another exceptional example, by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, exploring the extraordinary life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, artist and African American activist who represented a unique cultural-activist approach.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” during the sixties by photographing the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: young women of color who became the sensational archetype for aesthetics, abandoning typical beauty standards and the predominant Eurocentric standard of female beauty.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
Black Is Beautiful became a powerful unifying message, an visionary concise declaration for change. Merely to assert that people of color possessed beauty proved to be a empowering force in art, social movements and the arts. Brathwaite became a key figure in the Black power pan-Africanist movement by capturing images of Muhammad Ali leading up to his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
He became the official image creator for the band's international performances, and subsequently was named the house photographer for the historic cultural institution, creating an extraordinary collection of black musicians. In collaboration with his sibling, he became the driving force behind securing the South African leader to address the public in Harlem.
Personal Journey
His son Kwame Jr recounts the personal mission to ensure due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was hurtfully excluded in the nation's capital's cultural museum, inaugurated by the political leader in recent years.
The film additionally explores the deeply tragic genesis of the photographer's dedication to visual storytelling: the horrendous pictures of the young victim, the young civil rights lynching victim whose mourning family member boldly demanded an open coffin so the violent nature of bigoted brutality would not be concealed.
From Tragedy to Beauty
Through this vision of tragedy, the artist discovered a form of profound understanding that led him toward visual representations of beauty. His work beautifully expressed empowering beauty and often not overtly political: he developed a innovative iconography of empowerment upon which social causes could gather.
It is an exhilarating testament of creative genius that persists in resonate through the years.
