Black Is Beautiful: A Captivating Journey of Trailblazing Artist Kwame Brathwaite

We have witnessed many engaging features focusing on photographers: Martin Parr. It could be the documentary format truly excels when presenting particularly vivid photographs. Here arrives another exceptional instance, from writer-director Yemi Bamiro, documenting the impressive career of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, musician and civil rights advocate who embodied a distinct cultural-activist vision.

Together with his family member Elombe, he effectively created the expression “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the Harlem models in the cultural epicenter: young women of color who became the transformative template for visual appeal, abandoning conventional grooming practices and the established Eurocentric standard of womanhood.

The Impact of a Simple Phrase

Black Is Beautiful transformed into a radical call to action, an brilliant memorable declaration for progress. Simply stating that African Americans were beautiful emerged as a empowering force in society, politics and culture. Brathwaite grew into part of the Black power African diaspora struggle by capturing images of the legendary boxer before his legendary Zaire bout in the seventies.

He became the official photographer for the musical group's African tour, and eventually became the resident artist for the iconic Apollo theatre, assembling an incredible collection of African American artists. In collaboration with Elombe, he became the central figure behind arranging for Nelson Mandela to speak in New York.

Personal Journey

Brathwaite's son Kwame Jr recounts the their mission to secure appropriate credit for his family heritage after he was painfully excluded in Washington DC's Smithsonian institution, opened by Barack Obama in recent years.

This documentary further reveals the deeply tragic origin of Brathwaite's passion for photography: the shocking images of the lynching martyr, the teenage civil rights tragic figure whose bereaved parent defiantly requested an open coffin so the violent nature of bigoted brutality could not be hidden.

From Tragedy to Beauty

From this vision of violence, the artist discovered a form of anti-epiphany that directed him toward visual representations of community. His images were eloquent of community pride and frequently not overtly political: he established a new symbolic representation of empowerment through which political movements could gather.

It is an exhilarating testament of creative genius that persists in empower decades later.