Black Is Beautiful: A Revealing Tale of Game-Changing Artist Kwame Brathwaite

We have witnessed countless fascinating films highlighting photographers: Vivian Maier. It could be the film medium naturally comes alive when presenting exceptionally powerful visual compositions. Today we have one more outstanding case, by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, exploring the extraordinary professional journey of Kwame Brathwaite—an artist, musician and civil rights advocate who represented a unique cultural-activist approach.

Alongside his brother Elombe, he pioneered the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the 1960s by capturing the Grandassa Models in New York: youthful Black women who became the sensational archetype for visual appeal, rejecting traditional grooming practices and the usual Eurocentric standard of womanhood.

The Influence of a Revolutionary Slogan

This powerful statement evolved into a radical unifying message, an visionary three-word prose poem for change. Merely to assert that black people were beautiful emerged as a transformative power in society, activism and culture. The photographer became a key figure in the social justice African diaspora cause by capturing images of the sports icon before his iconic championship fight in 1974.

He served as the official photographer for the band's international performances, and eventually was named the official visual chronicler for the iconic Apollo theatre, building an extraordinary archive of musical pioneers. In collaboration with his sibling, he was the central figure behind arranging for the South African leader to appear in Harlem.

Personal Journey

Brathwaite's son the younger Brathwaite recounts the their quest to secure appropriate credit for his family heritage after he was unjustly excluded in Washington DC's Smithsonian institution, inaugurated by Barack Obama in 2016.

The film also recounts the inexpressibly painful inspiration of the photographer's interest in visual storytelling: the shocking photographs of the lynching martyr, the young African American murder victim whose grieving mother courageously requested an open coffin so the brutal truth of bigoted brutality might not be concealed.

Amidst Sorrow to Beauty

From this vision of tragedy, the artist encountered a type of profound understanding that guided him toward visual representations of aspiration. His photographs were eloquent of celebratory strength and frequently not overtly political: he curated a new symbolic representation of pride around which political movements could mobilize.

The documentary stands as an exhilarating testament of artistic vision that still inspire through the years.