Graphic Design Assistant Professor Stacey Robinson Curates Exhibitions

“Future Spaces in Community Places” features work from two of Robinson’s community and Afrofuturism-based collaborations. Afrofuturism is a term utilized for many lines of thinking regarding Black futures. Regarding “Future Spaces in Community Places,” this semester-long exhibition centers around the ideas of practical Afrofuturism. Meaning Afrofuturism that meets the daily needs of those who partake in it.

“Star Gazers” features the works of community advocate, and poet Shaya “Chocolate Star” Robinson and Stacey Robinson as they imagine a young imaginative Black girl who dives deep in her journal to explore self-esteem, Black girlhood, and ancestry. This is a proof of concept as they define the aesthetics of the soon coming ‘Star Gazers’ book series.

“BLACKMAU” as a collaborative duo converging in 2019, BLACKMAU consists of Kamau “DJ KamauMau” Grantham, Clinical Psychologist, University of Illinois and Stacey “Black Star” Robinson. Their work examines liberated Black futures where the ideas of agency, sovereignty dystopia, and escape are explored through digital collage aesthetics, House Music, and animation.

During these 16 weeks the Champaign-Urbana community are invited to engage the work and the space through 16 weeks of collaborative programming that is free, open and accessible to the community.

Thursday, August 26 – December 2021.
Exhibition Opening: Thursday, August 26, 5-8pm
Murphy Gallery, YMCA, 1001 S. Wright Street, Champaign, Illinois