Moki Cherry

Moki Cherry was a multidisciplinary Swedish artist whose work spanned various mediums, including art, architecture, design, and music.

Biography of Moki Cherry

Moki Cherry was born in 1942 in Norbotten, Sweden. In 1962, Moki moved to Stockholm to study fashion and textiles at Beckman's School of Design, specializing in illustration, pattern design, and clothing design. She was an exceptional student and received high marks.

After graduating from Beckman's in 1966, Moki traveled to New York to work in fashion and join azz musician Don Cherry, who was residing there at the time. In New York, she engaged in painting, tapestry, and fashion design, marking the beginning of her lifelong creative collaboration with Don. Her tapestries were instrumental in creating vibrant settings for Don's performances and album artwork.

Upon returning to Sweden in 1967, Moki and Don named their creative collaboration "Movement," later rebranding it as "Organic Music" or "Organic Music Theatre." Their inaugural concert under this banner took place at ABF Huset in Stockholm, where Moki designed the set and performed live painting during the event. In 1969, Moki and Don departed Stockholm with their children to return to New York.

In 1970, Moki and her family relocated to Vermont when Don was invited to serve as artist-in-residence and teach at Dartmouth College for two semesters. During their time there, Moki and Don collaborated with students to create an opera. Following this, they returned to Sweden and purchased an old schoolhouse in Tågarp.

In the 1980s, Moki Cherry exhibited her artwork in Sweden and New York while collaborating less with Don Cherry. Throughout the 1990s, she increasingly spent time at their loft in New York, working as a set designer for the Apollo Theater in Harlem and beginning her exploration of ceramics at Greenwich House Pottery. During the 2000s, she primarily focused on collage, and in the final years before her death, she returned to painting and tapestry.

Moki Cherry died in 2009. Her life and artistic practice were deeply intertwined, as she described it, "home as stage and stage as home." Her work was characterized by themes of functionality, spirituality, and everyday life, making her vision increasingly relevant in today's context.