A graduate student at the State University of New York at Buffalo hung “black only” and “white only” signs around campus this week as part of an art project, which she said was intended to provoke a searing conversation.

And indeed it did. The signs shocked students and jolted the university at a time when discussions about race and race relations have been prominent in the news.

The student, Ashley Powell, who is enrolled in the university’s Art Department, began posting the signs, made of cardboard and paper, shortly before noon on Wednesday, she said, hanging 17 of them in several buildings on campus, next to elevators, water fountains, benches and bathrooms.