Black Is Beautiful: The Revealing Story of Revolutionary Photographer Kwame Brathwaite

There have been numerous engaging features highlighting photographers: Tish Murtha. Perhaps the film medium naturally comes alive when presenting exceptionally powerful still images. Today comes a new exceptional case, from creator Yemi Bamiro, documenting the remarkable life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, artist and African American activist who embodied a unique artistic-political vision.

Together with his sibling Elombe, he pioneered the expression “Black Is Beautiful” in the sixties by capturing the African American women in the cultural epicenter: youthful African American women who emerged as the sensational standard for beauty, moving beyond typical beauty standards and the predominant Eurocentric ideal of femininity.

The Power of Three Words

This powerful statement transformed into a powerful rallying cry, an brilliant concise prose poem for transformation. Merely stating that people of color radiated beauty proved to be a liberating power in society, social movements and the arts. Brathwaite emerged as integral to the social justice pan-Africanist struggle by capturing images of Muhammad Ali prior to his iconic championship fight in that era.

He served as the official image creator for the Jackson 5's international performances, and subsequently became the official visual chronicler for the legendary Apollo theatre, assembling an extraordinary collection of black musicians. Together with his sibling, he was the key organizer behind securing the South African leader to speak in Harlem.

Family Legacy

Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite recounts the personal campaign to secure appropriate credit for his family heritage after he was hurtfully ignored in the prestigious cultural museum, established by Barack Obama in recent years.

This documentary also recounts the profoundly sorrowful origin of the photographer's interest in visual storytelling: the horrendous images of the young victim, the teenage civil rights tragic figure whose mourning family member defiantly insisted on an uncovered casket so the violent nature of bigoted brutality could not be concealed.

From Tragedy to Empowerment

Through this representation of horror, the artist encountered a form of profound understanding that guided him toward visual representations of beauty. His images were eloquent of community pride and often not overtly political: he established a new visual language of pride through which political movements could unite.

It is an exhilarating record of artistic vision that persists in resonate decades later.