History has seen numerous engaging films highlighting visual artists: Vivian Maier. It could be the film medium truly excels when showcasing exceptionally powerful visual compositions. Here arrives a new outstanding case, by creator Yemi Bamiro, exploring the extraordinary career of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, musician and social justice champion who represented a distinct cultural-activist vision.
In partnership with his brother Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the Grandassa Models in Harlem: young Black women who emerged as the sensational template for beauty, abandoning conventional beauty standards and the established Caucasian model of female beauty.
The Influence of a Simple Phrase
The iconic phrase evolved into a transformative unifying message, an inspired concise manifesto for change. Simply to assert that African Americans radiated beauty emerged as a transformative influence in society, activism and creative expression. The artist emerged as part of the civil rights African diaspora movement by photographing Muhammad Ali prior to his iconic Zaire bout in the seventies.
He became the primary visual documentarian for the musical group's international performances, and subsequently assumed the role of the official visual chronicler for the legendary Harlem venue, creating an extraordinary archive of black musicians. In collaboration with his sibling, he became the driving force behind securing Nelson Mandela to speak in Harlem.
Personal Journey
His son his namesake shares the their campaign to secure appropriate credit for his parent's achievements after he was painfully excluded in Washington DC's National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened by the political leader in 2016.
The feature also recounts the deeply tragic origin of the artist's interest in visual storytelling: the horrendous photographs of Emmett Till, the teenage civil rights lynching victim whose grieving mother boldly insisted on an open coffin so the horrific reality of racial hatred might not be covered up.
From Tragedy to Empowerment
In this representation of tragedy, Brathwaite discovered a type of transformative realization that directed him toward images of community. His work beautifully expressed empowering beauty and often subtle in messaging: he curated a new visual language of empowerment through which social causes could mobilize.
The documentary stands as an exhilarating testament of cultural impact that still inspire through the years.
