History has seen countless engaging films about image makers: Martin Parr. It could be cinematic storytelling naturally comes alive when showcasing exceptionally powerful photographs. Today arrives a new exceptional instance, by creator Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the remarkable career of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, artist and civil rights advocate who represented a unique artistic-political perspective.
In partnership with his brother Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the mid-century era by photographing the African American women in Harlem: youthful African American women who transformed into the groundbreaking template for beauty, rejecting typical cosmetic products and the usual white standard of womanhood.
The Impact of Three Words
Black Is Beautiful transformed into a transformative unifying message, an inspired three-word declaration for transformation. Merely stating that black people were beautiful emerged as a empowering power in society, politics and the arts. Brathwaite became a key figure in the social justice global Black struggle by photographing Muhammad Ali prior to his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He served as the exclusive photographer for the band's continental journey, and later assumed the role of the resident artist for the historic Apollo theatre, creating an extraordinary collection of African American artists. Together with his sibling, he emerged as the key organizer behind arranging for the South African leader to address the public in Harlem.
Personal Journey
The photographer's offspring Kwame Jr shares the personal quest to ensure proper recognition for his parent's achievements after he was painfully excluded in Washington DC's Smithsonian institution, opened by the political leader in this century.
The film also recounts the inexpressibly painful inspiration of the photographer's passion for visual storytelling: the shocking images of the young victim, the teenage civil rights murder victim whose bereaved parent courageously insisted on an uncovered casket so the horrific reality of racial hatred might not be concealed.
From Tragedy to Beauty
In this representation of tragedy, the visionary discovered a kind of transformative realization that guided him toward images of beauty. His photographs beautifully expressed celebratory strength and often nuanced in approach: he curated a fresh symbolic representation of strength around which social causes could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an inspiring chronicle of artistic vision that persists in resonate decades later.
