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Now through April 2026, Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum will be home to a retrospective of Swedish multimedia artist Moki Cherry’s work and life in “The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry.” This will be in the largest collection of Cherry’s work held in North America.
Known for creating with the guiding mantra “Home is stage, stage is home,” Cherry made vibrant worlds using mixed material tapestries, woodwork, fabric sculpture and drawings in a career that spanned decades until she died in 2009.
The collection includes Cherry’s tapestries as well as a wealth of inner life items like notebooks, collages, clothing and archived videos gathered throughout life with partner, musician Don Cherry and their children, including singer Neneh Cherry.
CBS News Philadelphia
On Saturday, at a sold-out talk with writer John Corbett, Neneh Cherry joined with her daughter, artist Naima Karlsson. They spoke for over an hour on finding creativity in everyday life, to keeping a loved one’s memory alive through the stewardship of their work left behind.
Memories shared included family time split between their gritty Long Island City family artist loft and idyllic Swedish home with vegetable gardens, and how the balancing of the two helped shape everyone’s artistic journey.
On bringing Moki Cherry’s work to Philadelphia, Neneh Cherry spoke about entering her mother’s studio after her death in 2009 and how things began to feel lifeless in a museum-like way. Beginning to archive Moki Cherry’s work and planning for it to be seen again helps breathe new life into the work.
The expansive exhibit takes up two spaces on the first and eighth floors of the Fabric Workshop and Museum.
“The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry” will be on view through April 12, 2026.