In his installation, Black Utopias: Black Distractions and Disruptions in Time Space, Stacey Robinson uses the traditional white box gallery space as a stand-in for the pervasiveness of whiteness in the museum and gallery worlds. Robinson disrupts these spaces with stark graphic designs cut in black vinyl that mash up references from pop culture, music, and Black history, including references from the Wu-Tang Clan, the Black Panther Breakfast Program, and imagery from the Jim Crow Museum collection.

Robinson is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a 2019-2020 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. His work discusses decolonized Black futures.

Funding is generously provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission Art Access Program, Arts & Culture Alliance, Knox County, the Department of the Treasury, Jerry's Artarama and UTK co-sponsors from the Department of Africana Studies, Multicultural Student Life at the Frieson Black Cultural Center, The Office of Community Engagement and Outreach, The School of Design, UT Libraries, and the School of Art Programming Committee.