Be Different

The Cheshire Cat is my spirit animal

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Here’s your soundtrack for this selection:

I planned and concepted Unwoke Art on a trip to London at the end of 2021. The highlight of the trip was an Alice In Wonderland exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This exhibit blew my mind. It was an immersive experience that followed the history, adaptation, and reinventions of the story and its characters over 150+ years and reintroduced me to a story I hadn’t really considered since childhood.

My favorite character was the Chesire Cat.

The Chesire Cat is everything. He’s mischievous…sarcastic…ungovernable…authentic…an outsider…threatened by no one.

The Cheshire Cat is often seen as a symbol of how our perception of reality can be distorted and a reminder that in a world governed by the insane, the sane will always appear mad. He challenges different power structures, just like he challenged the Queen of Hearts.

Some say the spiritual meaning of the Cheshire Cat is to encourage us on our journey to understanding our own consciousness and spirit. He reminds us to seek out the wisdom that lies within and also to live life to the fullest, embracing the unknown and mysterious.

When I made the logo for Unwoke Art, I elected the image of an astronaut looking at the world, with the tagline “See the world differently.” I thought that was apropos because you’re outside of the world looking into it. Your ability to see it differently necessitates your detachment.

But if Unwoke Art has a spirit animal, it is most certainly the Chesire Cat. And so, I knew I wanted to make my own version of the iconic character to encourage people to not just see the world differently, but to embrace being different themselves:

One of my rules for the Actively Unwoke is to stop allowing the woke to dictate the rules of the game - you’re never obligated to obey the rules that someone else wants you to follow. The world will always try to make you conform, but they will never succeed unless you allow them to.

This design is a part of the Mindful Chaos collection for Unwoke Art, where I’ll make designs to inspire you to keep your cool in the face of madness. Remember, in a world run by the insane and the outrage addicted, a sane person will appear insane by comparison.

You can get the design on t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, mugs, and more. Photos of some of the products are below.

All proceeds from subscriptions to this site and the merch store support my unwoke activism.

Different colors are available for the t-shirts, hoodies, and some of the other products as well. Visit the store to see all your options by clicking on the product you’d like.

What do you think of this design? Would you like to see it on different merch?

Leave a comment and let me know! I will try to accommodate requests.