Alvin Schexnider dreams of a liberated future for all. Afrofuturism is more important than ever. How else can we achieve a better world if we do not first imagine it? Inspired by Black and Asian art, he calls on all people, adults and children, to envision equitable and creative futures where we can all thrive.
See the exhibition
Schexnider’s work will be on display at The Beautiful Cat from August – September 2025. As a window gallery, the works will be viewable 24/7 at the northeast corner of Granville and Winthrop. It is located just a half block east of the Granville Red Line stop and a block west of the 147 express bus at 1070 W Granville, Chicago, IL 60660.
Meet the Artist
Alvin Schexnider
afrofuturist, designer/artist, author
Alvin Schexnider is an Afrofuturist, designer, and mixed media artist, living on the occupied land of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatami nations (Chicago area). He is southern Black dude with direct roots in Louisiana and Virginia, genealogy that he suspects goes back to Nigeria and/or Ghana pre the Atlantic slave trade, and Indigenous ancestry that may lead to the Choctaw in Arkansas according to his family history.
Through his creative studio, GraffitiVersal, Alvin uses both digital art and graffiti art (spray paint and paint markers) to depict images of hope and liberation. Often his images include original Black characters (partly inspired by a Japanese chibi manga style) drawn on top of space/galactic themed backgrounds composed of nebulas, planets, and stars. In the spirit of Afrofuturism’s need to conceive thriving futures, Alvin’s art usually incorporates text based calls to action or reflection for the viewer to consider in their own present sociopolitical contexts that hopefully will lead to ideal futures as well as declarations of thriving states of being for better futures that have already arrived.