Black is Beautiful

Paul Stephen Benjamin, artist

born 1966

Black is Beautiful, 2020–2023

Where object was made: United States

Accession number: IA2023.001

On display: Perkins Central Court

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One History, Two Versions

Artist Paul Stephen Benjamin engages in a daily meditation typing the words “Black is Beautiful” on his manual typewriter, incorporating thoughts and things he notices around him, and embracing typos. He translates these meditations into site-specific installations, embedding local histories in the text. Here he references Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 landmark case that made racial segregation in U.S. public schools unconstitutional. Can you find “Tell the Board of Education” and “Oliver Brown” on the wall? What else do you notice?

Black Writing

This installation by Atlanta-based artist Paul Stephen Benjamin documents his daily meditative practice of typing the words “Black is Beautiful.” The text is always influenced by his surroundings, including music, the news, or people passing through the room. For this installation, Benjamin embedded references to Black history in Kansas. He has preserved this work as a wall rubbing and performed his typing meditation for the public in the gallery space.