The Jewish Museum of Chicago, in partnership with Buddy, is pleased to announce Rebecca Cynamon-Murphy ’99 as the recipient of the 2024 Artist Fellowship. Rebecca Cynamon-Murphy’s solo exhibition Sowing Quilts in Diaspora: Octavia Butler and Tikkun Olam will be on view at Buddy, Chicago Cultural Center from September 6- October 6, 2024. Opening reception was on September 15th from 12pm-4pm. Public program with free community art experience is on September 27 from 12pm-4pm.

“Octavia Butler’s themes of thriving diasporas, communal wealth and housing, and co-existence with wildlife are prophetic,” says the artist. Cynamon-Murphy designed The Earthseed quilt series to honor the work of Octavia Butler. The quilts are sewn with hand-written transcriptions of the verses from her books Parable of the Sower and Parable of Talents tucked into the quilt piecing. The quilts use upcycled and traditional textiles. The Earthseed quilts include 6 panels, the first of which is an 8-foot textural portrait of the author. Other panels provide metaphoric descriptions of elements from Butler’s novels. Congratulations Rebecca!