An Education on Beauty by Deborah Roberts

American artist and collagist, Deborah Roberts, recognizes the powerful influences everyone is subject to at an early age. In particular, she uses her art to show how concepts of beauty are formed from childhood, and how any dissonance during these formative years can have critical consequences to growth, development, confidence, and contentment in adulthood. She shows that more than ever, we need to instill in Black children that Black is beautiful.

Deborah also uses her art to speak up about many other societal issues such as how society automatically associates Black boys and young men to violence; inadvertently stealing their childhoods which is supposed to be joyful and really, downright fun, free and vulnerable.

The African-American artist uses a mix of paint, collage, and sometimes even other materials to tell these powerful stories. See some of our favorite pieces from her below.