The Beauty of Blackness: A Captivating Story of Trailblazing Visionary Kwame Brathwaite

We have witnessed numerous engaging documentaries focusing on photographers: Vivian Maier. Maybe the film medium particularly shines when displaying particularly vivid visual compositions. Now we have another outstanding instance, from creator Yemi Bamiro, chronicling the remarkable life's work of Kwame Brathwaite—a creative force, performer and African American activist who represented a special cultural-activist vision.

In partnership with his family member Elombe, he virtually invented the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the sixties by photographing the African American women in New York: youthful Black women who transformed into the transformative standard for beauty, rejecting traditional cosmetic products and the usual white model of womanhood.

The Power of Three Words

Black Is Beautiful became a transformative call to action, an brilliant concise declaration for change. Merely to assert that people of color radiated beauty proved to be a liberating power in art, social movements and creative expression. The artist became part of the Black power pan-Africanist struggle by capturing images of the legendary boxer leading up to his historic Rumble in the Jungle in the seventies.

He served as the exclusive photographer for the Jackson 5's international performances, and subsequently was named the official visual chronicler for the legendary Apollo theatre, assembling an amazing portfolio of black musicians. Alongside his sibling, he became the driving force behind arranging for the South African leader to speak in the community.

Family Legacy

The photographer's offspring Kwame Jr recounts the personal campaign to ensure appropriate credit for his father's legacy after he was unjustly excluded in Washington DC's cultural museum, inaugurated by Barack Obama in recent years.

The feature also recounts the profoundly sorrowful genesis of the photographer's dedication to photography: the disturbing pictures of Emmett Till, the adolescent Black tragic figure whose mourning family member defiantly demanded an public viewing so the brutal truth of racial hatred might not be concealed.

Through Darkness to Beauty

Through this image of tragedy, Brathwaite found a type of transformative realization that guided him toward images of community. His photographs powerfully conveyed celebratory strength and frequently subtle in messaging: he curated a innovative visual language of empowerment around which social causes could mobilize.

It is an exhilarating chronicle of creative genius that continues to inspire through the years.