History has seen many fascinating films about visual artists: Tish Murtha. Maybe the film medium truly excels when showcasing exceptionally powerful still images. Here we have another outstanding instance, by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, exploring the impressive career of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, performer and civil rights advocate who embodied a special politico-aesthetic approach.
In partnership with his family member Elombe, he virtually invented the expression “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by photographing the Harlem models in New York: young African American women who transformed into the sensational standard for visual appeal, rejecting typical beauty standards and the predominant Eurocentric ideal of femininity.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
This powerful statement became a radical call to action, an visionary three-word manifesto for change. Merely to assert that people of color possessed beauty proved to be a empowering force in society, politics and the arts. Brathwaite became a key figure in the civil rights pan-Africanist movement by documenting the sports icon leading up to his iconic Zaire bout in that era.
He served as the primary photographer for the band's continental journey, and subsequently became the house photographer for the historic cultural institution, building an extraordinary collection of African American artists. Alongside his brother, he became the central figure behind arranging for the anti-apartheid icon to appear in the community.
Family Legacy
The photographer's offspring his namesake recounts the personal campaign to secure proper recognition for his parent's achievements after he was painfully overlooked in the nation's capital's cultural museum, opened by the former president in recent years.
The feature additionally explores the profoundly sorrowful origin of the artist's passion for photography: the disturbing images of the lynching martyr, the adolescent Black tragic figure whose bereaved parent defiantly requested an open coffin so the violent nature of racist violence could not be hidden.
From Tragedy to Beauty
From this image of tragedy, the artist discovered a type of transformative realization that directed him toward images of community. His images were eloquent of empowering beauty and often not overtly political: he established a innovative visual language of pride around which political movements could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an captivating chronicle of creative genius that continues to inspire decades later.
