Date and Time
- Sunday, Oct 4, 2026 4pm - 6:30pm
Location
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St
Details
Join Nexus: San Francisco/Bay Area Black Art Week, SFMOMA, and MoAD for a film screening of Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story, followed by a conversation between Brathwaite’s son Kwame S. Brathwaite Jr. and Leigh Raiford.
Starting from Harlem in the 1950s and working until his death in 2023, Kwame Brathwaite took half a million photos. Many captured regular people on the street, but he also took thousands of intimate and unexpected photos of stars, including Stevie Wonder, Muhammad Ali, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, and the Jackson Five.
Brathwaite’s photos of Black communities and people focused on beauty and joy instead of trauma and conflict at a time when this was deemed radical. Kwame also pioneered grassroots fashion shows that celebrated natural Black beauty, heralding a new dawn across the globe.
Photographer to the greats, collaborator in African liberation movements, and archivist of Harlem culture, Brathwaite’s impact on Black culture is undeniable —he has been called the “soul” of the Black Is Beautiful movement. However, he was largely forgotten by history until his son uncovered his vast archive of photos. This documentary covers his incredible surge in popularity since 2020, including being embraced by Rihanna and Beyonce. In the film, Alicia Keys, Jesse Williams, Gabrielle Union, and Tyler Mitchell speak emotionally and personally about discovering and championing Brathwaite’s work, which finally gets its due.
Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story dares to present an uplifting, cinematic, and bold story rooted in Blackness that will leave audiences feeling energized and inspired.
