Kwame Brathwaite – Photography as statement.

“In 1956, a group of graduates from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan (now the High School of Art and Design), including Brathwaite and his older brother Elombe, formed the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS), a collective of artists, fashion designers and playwrights who aligned themselves with the teachings of Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican Pan-Africanist political leader who preached black economic liberation and sought out to connect the African diaspora worldwide. One of AJASS’ primary missions was to foster an appreciation for natural black beauty within the community at a time when black women were conforming to Eurocentric beauty standards.

To that end, AJASS created the Grandassa Models, a troupe of black women who would personify a more natural standard of black beauty.” 

• For insights on Kwame Brathwaite’s pioneering cultural transformation, in rethinking identity, click on the below images.