Conversation: Kwame Brathwaite—Things Well Worth Waiting For

Cultural historian Ayana Contreras and Kwame Brathwaite Jr., son of photographer Kwame Brathwaite and director of the Kwame Brathwaite Archive, discuss the exhibition "Kwame Brathwaite: Things Well Worth Waiting For."

Kwame Brathwaite came to photography through music. In 1956, after seeing photographs taken in the dim light of a club during a music event organized by AJASS (African Jazz-Art Society and Studios), a group that he co-founded, Brathwaite was inspired to pick up a camera himself. Initially, he took pictures in support of a larger cause—uplifting the “Black is Beautiful” movement, which he helped to shape by organizing fashion shows and concerts in New York that celebrated African beauty, culture, and heritage and subverted Western beauty standards. These beginnings set the stage for a prolific, seven-decade career documenting the visual culture unfolding alongside the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.

Generously supported by the Carol Given Winston Fund.