Kwame Brathwaite

About

Kwame Brathwaite, his older brother, Elombe Brath, and the African Jazz-Art Society and Studios (AJASS) they created, popularized the phrase “Black Is Beautiful” in the late ’50s and early ’60s inspired in part by the writings of Marcus Garvey. By the ’70s, Brathwaite was one of the country’s top concert photographers, shaping the images of public figures such as Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, James Brown, and Muhammad Ali. Brathwaite is currently the subject of a major touring exhibition, Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Vogue, the Financial Times, New York Magazine, Aperture, and more. He lives and works in Manhattan.