A groundbreaking posthumous exhibition celebrating the artistic achievements of Moki Cherry, the matriarch of a renowned musical family, is now drawing visitors to Philadelphia's Fabric Workshop and Museum. "The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry" showcases how the Swedish-born artist seamlessly integrated her creative ambitions with her family life, creating art that was decades ahead of its time. The exhibition recently welcomed a special visitor - pop star Neneh Cherry, who came to view her mother's work on display.
Moki Cherry's artistic journey began in 1962 when Monica "Moki" Karlsson enrolled at the Beckman College of Design in Stockholm to study fashion design. There she met a Sierra Leonean musician and engineer, with whom she had daughter Neneh, who would later achieve international fame with hits like "Buffalo Stance" in the 1990s. Shortly after Neneh's birth, Moki became the life partner of American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, and together they had son Eagle-Eye, who followed his sister into music and became known for his song "Save Tonight."
The exhibition masterfully illustrates how Moki's domestic life and artistic practice were inseparably intertwined. A colorful patchwork canopy that she handcrafted for her son's bed hangs prominently over one of the gallery entrances. One particularly striking photograph shows young Neneh bouncing on a hobby horse while wearing a homemade crocheted dress, as her mother works intently on papers nearby, surrounded by patterned paintings covering the wall.
"Moki worked and lived in the spaces that were also the spaces I grew up in," Neneh observed during her recent visit to the exhibition. "But what's really powerful about walking into this is how contemporary the work is, how vibrant it is. She was making art to be seen. She was a serious artist." While her partner and children achieved greater popular recognition, Moki remained actively engaged with New York City's underground art galleries and performance art collectives throughout her life.
The exhibition primarily features textile art, including numerous banners that Moki created for the collaborative performances she and Don Cherry developed together. These "Organic Music" performances were revolutionary in their approach, breaking down traditional barriers between audience and artist to create collaborative musical experiences that incorporated children and family life. The theatrical banners served as interactive backdrops designed to foster audience participation, with many depicting Hindu figures that reflected the couple's incorporation of Indian musical styles, particularly ragas, into their work.
Curator Mark Christman emphasized the groundbreaking nature of their artistic collaboration: "They developed these extraordinary spaces that were like audio-visual happenings. They supported a communal creative expression across languages, across borders, across communities and ages and abilities and ideas." Moki's artistic contributions extended to album artwork, including the sleeve design for Don Cherry's "Brown Rice," on which she can also be heard performing the stringed tanpura.
One of the exhibition's banners depicts "Malkauns," a traditional Indian raga that the Cherrys perform on "Brown Rice." The letters spell out the vocalization of the raga's pentatonic scale, similar to the Western "Do Re Mi" from "The Sound of Music." This piece exemplifies Moki's deep interest in traditional art forms and her innovative ways of expressing them in contemporary contexts.
Despite the artistic merit of her work, Moki faced significant challenges in gaining recognition during her lifetime, particularly in the 1970s art world. "At the time when she was making them and wanted her work to be shown in galleries, especially during the 70s, the art world at the time didn't understand it," explained Naima Karlsson, Neneh's daughter and manager of her grandmother's estate. "They didn't think a tapestry piece was real art. It was more like women's crafts."
The Fabric Workshop has taken special care to honor Moki's textile legacy by sourcing a pattern sample she had designed but was never able to get fabricated during her lifetime. The museum has now printed limited edition yardage of this design, with pillows featuring the green and blue pattern of snakes and vines available in the gift shop, along with fabric sold by the yard.
Moki maintained an active artistic practice until her death in 2009, working with various mediums including ceramics at Greenwich House Pottery in New York City, where she translated the fantastical faces and animal forms from her drawings into three-dimensional works. In her later years, she divided her time between New York and a converted schoolhouse in Sweden that served as both her home and studio.
The family has preserved the Swedish property as a creative retreat where artistic experimentation and domestic tranquility continue to coexist. Neneh, who published a memoir last year, reflected on the emotional impact of seeing her mother's work celebrated: "As happy as it makes me, it also makes me feel a bit sad that she isn't here. Even though she is here. We can feel her so much in the room. There's no doubt that the life force is in the art. It's so expressive and timeless and feels like the world is only catching up now."
"The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry" will remain on display at the Fabric Workshop and Museum through April 12, 2026, offering visitors an extensive look at more than 100 works by an artist whose innovative approach to combining family life with serious artistic practice was far ahead of her time.
