History has seen countless compelling documentaries about visual artists: Tish Murtha. Perhaps the documentary format naturally comes alive when displaying exceptionally powerful still images. Today arrives another remarkable case, from filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, documenting the extraordinary life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a photographer, performer and civil rights advocate who represented a unique cultural-activist approach.
Alongside his sibling Elombe, he pioneered the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” in the 1960s by capturing the Grandassa Models in New York: emerging Black women who transformed into the sensational archetype for beauty, rejecting conventional grooming practices and the usual Caucasian ideal of womanhood.
The Influence of a Simple Phrase
The iconic phrase became a radical call to action, an visionary memorable prose poem for change. Simply declaring that black people were beautiful became a transformative power in art, activism and culture. The photographer became integral to the social justice African diaspora struggle by capturing images of the sports icon before his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He served as the official visual documentarian for the musical group's continental journey, and eventually assumed the role of the resident artist for the legendary cultural institution, assembling an amazing archive of African American artists. Together with Elombe, he emerged as the driving force behind arranging for Nelson Mandela to speak in New York.
Personal Journey
Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite shares the family's quest to ensure appropriate credit for his parent's achievements after he was painfully overlooked in the prestigious National Museum of African American History and Culture, inaugurated by Barack Obama in this century.
The feature also recounts the profoundly sorrowful origin of Brathwaite's interest in image making: the shocking images of Emmett Till, the adolescent African American murder victim whose mourning family member boldly insisted on an open coffin so the brutal truth of racial hatred could not be hidden.
From Tragedy to Empowerment
Through this image of violence, Brathwaite discovered a form of anti-epiphany that led him toward visual representations of aspiration. His images were eloquent of community pride and typically nuanced in approach: he curated a fresh visual language of empowerment through which social causes could mobilize.
This represents an captivating testament of artistic vision that persists in resonate decades later.
