We have witnessed many compelling features focusing on visual artists: Vivian Maier. Maybe the film medium particularly shines when displaying particularly vivid still images. Here we have another outstanding case, directed by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the impressive career of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, musician and civil rights advocate who exemplified a special cultural-activist vision.
Together with his brother Elombe, he effectively created the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the sixties by capturing the African American women in New York: emerging women of color who became the transformative standard for aesthetics, moving beyond traditional cosmetic products and the predominant Eurocentric standard of femininity.
The Impact of a Revolutionary Slogan
The iconic phrase evolved into a transformative rallying cry, an brilliant memorable prose poem for transformation. Merely declaring that people of color possessed beauty emerged as a empowering influence in art, activism and the arts. The artist emerged as a key figure in the social justice pan-Africanist cause by capturing images of the sports icon leading up to his iconic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He was appointed the official image creator for the musical group's African tour, and subsequently was named the official visual chronicler for the iconic Apollo theatre, assembling an amazing archive of musical pioneers. Together with his sibling, he emerged as the central figure behind securing the South African leader to speak in Harlem.
Family Legacy
The photographer's offspring the younger Brathwaite is interviewed the their mission to achieve due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was painfully overlooked in Washington DC's cultural museum, inaugurated by the political leader in 2016.
The film also recounts the deeply tragic inspiration of the photographer's dedication to photography: the disturbing photographs of the lynching martyr, the young Black lynching victim whose mourning family member boldly insisted on an public viewing so the brutal truth of bigoted brutality would not be hidden.
Amidst Sorrow to Empowerment
Through this image of violence, Brathwaite found a type of profound understanding that guided him toward photographs of community. His work powerfully conveyed empowering beauty and typically not overtly political: he curated a fresh symbolic representation of pride through which political movements could unite.
It is an inspiring testament of cultural impact that continues to empower decades later.
