Known by friends as “ the keeper of the images” , Kwame Braithwaite is an African American photographer from Brooklyn,  NY. He was born in 1938 inside a segregated world. The struggle of black and white separation affected him tremendously. In the 1960’s and 1970’s he decided to use his voice to redefine those struggles. This was during the height of the civil rights movement which he called “the second Harlem Renaissance. His intentions were to capture cultural and  political statements throughout Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Africa, and the entire African diaspora. He captured images of John Carltone all the way to Nelson Mandela. According to Tanish Ford, in the 60’s Braithwaite spent thousands of hours in a darkroom, dipping his fingers into harsh developing chemicals so often that the grooves of his fingertips have become worn. His hard work was meant to showcase the wanted freedom of blacks and create power through an image. He popularized the phrase “ black is beautiful” through his work. His images celebrated black beauty and paved away for its acceptance in standards during the 60’s and later generations.

I chose this photographer because as a black artist his resilience inspired me. He was never afraid to capture black beauty and push it out in a world that deems it as ugly. His dedication to activism. He used photography as a voice to protest against the interrogation from whites. He used black culture as the tone of his images. Every image has a note of jazz and the strength of the black panther movement. He symbolizes love. I use the word love because if he didn’t love his community he wouldn’t have taken the risks that he took to capture the beauty that everyone else could not see. 

This photo is absolutely stunning. He captured this woman’s essence phenomenally. The direct light to her face makes African features stand out. While creating shadows to her more accepted european features like her sharp jawline. I believe his idea for this shoot was to capture the parts of her that racist hate the most. He used a dark skinned woman with a broad nose, full lips, and his cheek bones to set a powerful tone. This image defies every unspoken law that the modeling industry has put out. The model is wearing african jewelry with further protest “black is beautiful”. This photo is loud, political, yet soft. He placed her in the last two columns of the rule of thirds to create character in the image. The mustard background compliments her skin perfectly and makes it stand out. He is a photography genius. This photo reminds me of everything I’ve hoped to accomplish as a photographer and model. His use of direct lighting to bring attention to her face reminds me to never hide my features or change them. He glorifies the beauty that society has tried to dispose of. 

sources

Ford, Tanisha. Black Is Beautiful. Aperture.2020,11 June. https://aperture.org/from-the-archive/kwame-brathwaite-black-is-beautiful/