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Opening Reception for Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism

Kwame Brathwaite

Kwame Brathwaite, Untitled (Garvey Day, Deedee in Car), 1965

Houston Center for Photography exhibition Tools of Revolution: Fashion Photography and Activism will be on view from March 6 to May 10, 2020. An opening reception will be held from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm on March 6. Artists’ remarks begin at 6:00 pm. This exhibit presents the underrecognized photographic work of Harlem-based, Civil Rights activist and photographer, Kwame Brathwaite, and positions his legacy in the current moment through the work of three young artists similarly working at the nexus of fashion, activism, and photography in New York.

Born in Harlem in 1938, Brathwaite found his way to photography through the zeitgeist of jazz. Later, inspired by the black nationalist political ideas of Marcus Garvey, he and his brother, Elombe Brath, along with other artists, playwrights, designers, and dancers, created the African Jazz-Art Society & Studio (AJASS). AJASS put on concerts, exhibitions, and cultural events featuring African American artists, and in 1962 they staged their first of many “Naturally” pageants, featuring all black models, known as The Grandassa Models, who proudly celebrated theirnatural hairstyles and Afrocentric dress. Through these varied cultural events, the group worked to promote the ideal that “Black is Beautiful,” and advocated for Garvey’s mantras to “Buy Black” and “Think Black,” phrases which became used in a multitude of advertising campaigns.

Event type: 
Dates: 
Friday, March 6, 2020, 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Venue: 
Houston Center for Photography
Address: 
1441 West Alabama
Houston, TX 77006

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