History has seen many compelling documentaries focusing on image makers: Martin Parr. Perhaps the documentary format naturally comes alive when showcasing remarkably striking photographs. Here comes another outstanding example, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the extraordinary life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, performer and social justice champion who embodied a unique politico-aesthetic approach.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he effectively created the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” in the mid-century era by photographing the Harlem models in New York: youthful women of color who transformed into the transformative standard for aesthetics, rejecting conventional beauty standards and the predominant Eurocentric ideal of womanhood.
The Influence of a Simple Phrase
Black Is Beautiful transformed into a radical rallying cry, an visionary three-word prose poem for change. Merely to assert that people of color possessed beauty became a transformative influence in art, activism and creative expression. Brathwaite grew into a key figure in the Black power African diaspora struggle by photographing the sports icon before his historic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He served as the official image creator for the musical group's international performances, and later was named the official visual chronicler for the historic Apollo theatre, assembling an amazing archive of black musicians. Alongside Elombe, he became the driving force behind securing Nelson Mandela to speak in New York.
Personal Journey
Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite is interviewed the family's quest to achieve proper recognition for his family heritage after he was unjustly excluded in the nation's capital's cultural museum, opened by the former president in recent years.
This documentary further reveals the deeply tragic origin of the artist's interest in image making: the disturbing images of the young victim, the teenage civil rights lynching victim whose grieving mother defiantly insisted on an public viewing so the horrific reality of bigoted brutality would not be hidden.
From Tragedy to Empowerment
In this vision of violence, the visionary discovered a kind of anti-epiphany that led him toward images of aspiration. His work beautifully expressed community pride and often nuanced in approach: he developed a innovative visual language of pride upon which social causes could gather.
The documentary stands as an inspiring record of artistic vision that persists in empower through the years.
