We have witnessed numerous engaging features highlighting image makers: Tish Murtha. Perhaps cinematic storytelling truly excels when presenting remarkably striking photographs. Now we have one more exceptional instance, by writer-director Yemi Bamiro, exploring the extraordinary life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, performer and social justice champion who embodied a unique cultural-activist perspective.
In partnership with his sibling Elombe, he pioneered the slogan “Black Is Beautiful” during the mid-century era by capturing the Harlem models in New York: youthful African American women who became the groundbreaking archetype for beauty, rejecting traditional cosmetic products and the usual Caucasian ideal of womanhood.
The Impact of a Revolutionary Slogan
The iconic phrase became a powerful call to action, an brilliant concise manifesto for transformation. Just declaring that people of color radiated beauty proved to be a liberating force in art, social movements and culture. The artist became part of the Black power pan-Africanist cause by documenting Muhammad Ali leading up to his legendary Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.
He served as the exclusive visual documentarian for the Jackson 5's international performances, and subsequently was named the house photographer for the historic cultural institution, building an extraordinary collection of musical pioneers. In collaboration with his sibling, he became the central figure behind securing Nelson Mandela to speak in the community.
Personal Journey
The photographer's offspring his namesake is interviewed the their mission to ensure due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was unjustly ignored in Washington DC's National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened by Barack Obama in this century.
The feature additionally explores the inexpressibly painful origin of Brathwaite's dedication to photography: the horrendous images of Emmett Till, the teenage Black murder victim whose bereaved parent defiantly demanded an open coffin so the violent nature of racist violence would not be hidden.
Amidst Sorrow to Beauty
From this image of horror, the artist discovered a form of anti-epiphany that guided him toward images of aspiration. His photographs beautifully expressed community pride and frequently nuanced in approach: he curated a new symbolic representation of pride around which activist groups could mobilize.
This represents an exhilarating record of cultural impact that continues to resonate decades later.
