We have witnessed countless engaging features focusing on photographers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the film medium naturally comes alive when presenting particularly vivid photographs. Here we have one more exceptional case, from filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the remarkable career of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, musician and civil rights advocate who embodied a distinct politico-aesthetic perspective.
Together with his brother Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” during the 1960s by documenting the Grandassa Models in New York: young Black women who emerged as the sensational archetype for visual appeal, moving beyond typical cosmetic products and the established Caucasian ideal of womanhood.
The Power of a Simple Phrase
The iconic phrase transformed into a transformative rallying cry, an brilliant three-word prose poem for progress. Merely stating that African Americans were beautiful emerged as a liberating power in culture, social movements and culture. The artist grew into integral to the civil rights African diaspora struggle by capturing images of the legendary boxer leading up to his legendary Rumble in the Jungle in that era.
He became the primary image creator for the band's continental journey, and eventually became the house photographer for the iconic cultural institution, assembling an incredible archive of black musicians. In collaboration with his sibling, he was the driving force behind arranging for Nelson Mandela to address the public in New York.
Family Legacy
The photographer's offspring the younger Brathwaite is interviewed the family's quest to ensure appropriate credit for his father's legacy after he was hurtfully excluded in the nation's capital's National Museum of African American History and Culture, inaugurated by the political leader in this century.
This documentary further reveals the deeply tragic genesis of the photographer's dedication to photography: the horrendous photographs of the young victim, the adolescent African American lynching victim whose grieving mother boldly requested an open coffin so the brutal truth of racial hatred could not be concealed.
Amidst Sorrow to Beauty
Through this image of horror, the artist discovered a kind of anti-epiphany that directed him toward visual representations of beauty. His photographs beautifully expressed community pride and frequently nuanced in approach: he curated a new visual language of empowerment upon which social causes could gather.
The documentary stands as an captivating chronicle of creative genius that still resonate through the years.
