History has seen many engaging documentaries highlighting image makers: Tish Murtha. Maybe the documentary format particularly shines when presenting remarkably striking photographs. Now comes another outstanding instance, from creator Yemi Bamiro, documenting the impressive professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, musician and civil rights advocate who embodied a unique cultural-activist approach.
Alongside his brother Elombe, he pioneered the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” during the 1960s by photographing the Grandassa Models in New York: young women of color who became the transformative archetype for visual appeal, abandoning traditional grooming practices and the usual white ideal of femininity.
The Influence of a Simple Phrase
This powerful statement became a powerful rallying cry, an inspired concise manifesto for change. Simply stating that African Americans possessed beauty became a transformative power in art, politics and culture. The photographer emerged as a key figure in the Black power pan-Africanist struggle by photographing the sports icon leading up to his iconic Zaire bout in 1974.
He was appointed the primary photographer for the musical group's African tour, and later was named the resident artist for the iconic Harlem venue, assembling an amazing archive of black musicians. In collaboration with his sibling, he was the key organizer behind bringing Nelson Mandela to speak in Harlem.
Personal Journey
The photographer's offspring the younger Brathwaite shares the personal campaign to secure due acknowledgment for his father's legacy after he was painfully excluded in the prestigious cultural museum, established by the former president in this century.
The film also recounts the profoundly sorrowful inspiration of the photographer's interest in image making: the shocking pictures of the young victim, the adolescent African American murder victim whose bereaved parent defiantly requested an uncovered casket so the brutal truth of racist violence could not be concealed.
Amidst Sorrow to Beauty
From this vision of horror, the artist found a form of profound understanding that guided him toward visual representations of community. His work powerfully conveyed empowering beauty and often nuanced in approach: he developed a new symbolic representation of pride around which social causes could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an exhilarating record of creative genius that still empower across generations.
