We have witnessed countless engaging features highlighting photographers: Martin Parr. It could be the film medium naturally comes alive when showcasing particularly vivid photographs. Now comes a new exceptional case, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the remarkable career of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, musician and African American activist who represented a distinct politico-aesthetic perspective.
Alongside his brother Elombe, he pioneered the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the mid-century era by capturing the Harlem models in Harlem: young African American women who emerged as the groundbreaking template for beauty, moving beyond typical cosmetic products and the usual Caucasian model of womanhood.
The Influence of Three Words
This powerful statement evolved into a powerful call to action, an brilliant concise prose poem for transformation. Merely declaring that people of color possessed beauty emerged as a transformative influence in culture, activism and culture. Brathwaite became integral to the Black power African diaspora movement by documenting the sports icon before his iconic championship fight in 1974.
He was appointed the official visual documentarian for the band's African tour, and later became the official visual chronicler for the iconic Apollo theatre, building an incredible archive of African American artists. In collaboration with his sibling, he emerged as the central figure behind arranging for the anti-apartheid icon to address the public in the community.
Family Legacy
Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite recounts the their quest to achieve proper recognition for his father's legacy after he was painfully excluded in the nation's capital's cultural museum, inaugurated by the former president in recent years.
This documentary further reveals the inexpressibly painful inspiration of the photographer's passion for image making: the shocking images of the lynching martyr, the young African American tragic figure whose mourning family member defiantly insisted on an open coffin so the horrific reality of bigoted brutality would not be concealed.
Amidst Sorrow to Empowerment
From this vision of violence, the artist encountered a form of profound understanding that led him toward visual representations of aspiration. His images powerfully conveyed celebratory strength and frequently not overtly political: he established a new iconography of strength through which activist groups could mobilize.
It is an inspiring record of cultural impact that still resonate across generations.
