History has seen many engaging documentaries focusing on image makers: Tish Murtha. It could be cinematic storytelling truly excels when showcasing particularly vivid visual compositions. Today arrives one more exceptional instance, by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, documenting the extraordinary professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, performer and African American activist who embodied a special artistic-political perspective.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the sixties by documenting the African American women in the cultural epicenter: emerging women of color who became the transformative standard for aesthetics, moving beyond traditional grooming practices and the predominant Eurocentric ideal of womanhood.
The Impact of Three Words
The iconic phrase became a powerful call to action, an inspired three-word manifesto for transformation. Just to assert that black people radiated beauty proved to be a transformative power in society, politics and the arts. The artist became a key figure in the social justice African diaspora struggle by documenting Muhammad Ali leading up to his historic Zaire bout in the seventies.
He became the primary image creator for the band's African tour, and later assumed the role of the official visual chronicler for the legendary cultural institution, building an incredible archive of black musicians. Together with his sibling, he was the driving force behind arranging for Nelson Mandela to appear in the community.
Personal Journey
The photographer's offspring Kwame Jr shares the family's mission to secure appropriate credit for his family heritage after he was hurtfully overlooked in the nation's capital's Smithsonian institution, inaugurated by Barack Obama in 2016.
The feature further reveals the inexpressibly painful inspiration of Brathwaite's passion for image making: the disturbing images of the young victim, the young civil rights lynching victim whose bereaved parent courageously insisted on an public viewing so the brutal truth of bigoted brutality could not be covered up.
Through Darkness to Hope
In this image of tragedy, Brathwaite encountered a kind of anti-epiphany that directed him toward visual representations of aspiration. His photographs were eloquent of community pride and typically subtle in messaging: he curated a new symbolic representation of strength through which political movements could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an captivating chronicle of artistic vision that still resonate decades later.
