Black Is Beautiful: The Revealing Journey of Game-Changing Photographer Kwame Brathwaite

There have been numerous engaging features focusing on photographers: Vivian Maier. Perhaps the film medium naturally comes alive when displaying remarkably striking still images. Today we have one more exceptional instance, directed by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, exploring the impressive professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, performer and civil rights advocate who represented a unique politico-aesthetic approach.

In partnership with his family member Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” throughout the 1960s by documenting the African American women in Harlem: emerging women of color who became the transformative template for aesthetics, rejecting traditional grooming practices and the usual Caucasian ideal of female beauty.

The Power of a Revolutionary Slogan

This powerful statement evolved into a radical call to action, an brilliant three-word declaration for progress. Just declaring that African Americans were beautiful emerged as a liberating influence in culture, politics and creative expression. The photographer grew into integral to the Black power pan-Africanist struggle by capturing images of Muhammad Ali leading up to his historic Zaire bout in that era.

He served as the official photographer for the band's continental journey, and subsequently assumed the role of the house photographer for the historic cultural institution, assembling an incredible collection of black musicians. Alongside Elombe, he emerged as the key organizer behind securing the anti-apartheid icon to address the public in New York.

Personal Journey

His son Kwame Jr recounts the family's mission to secure due acknowledgment for his parent's achievements after he was unjustly ignored in the nation's capital's National Museum of African American History and Culture, established by Barack Obama in recent years.

This documentary also recounts the inexpressibly painful origin of the artist's dedication to photography: the disturbing photographs of the lynching martyr, the adolescent African American murder victim whose mourning family member defiantly requested an open coffin so the brutal truth of racial hatred could not be hidden.

From Tragedy to Beauty

In this image of violence, Brathwaite found a kind of profound understanding that led him toward visual representations of community. His work powerfully conveyed celebratory strength and frequently not overtly political: he curated a fresh symbolic representation of strength through which activist groups could mobilize.

The documentary stands as an exhilarating chronicle of artistic vision that persists in resonate decades later.