Chakaia Booker is an American multi-disciplinary artist born in 1953 in Newark, New Jersey. She is best known for her monumental sculptures, primarily made from rubber tires. Her artistic practice aligns with the tradition of repurposing found objects to redefine notions of beauty and reaffirm the importance of abstract art in our understanding of the world. 

Booker shreds, bends, and weaves her material, transforming elements of urban blight into textured, biomorphic formations. Her distinctive abstractions address universal themes, such as race, gender, ecology, labor, and migration. Booker’s work also reflects African traditions of textiles and scarification, as well as aspects of Black American history and identity.   

Booker gained prominence in 2000 when her sculpture, It’s So Hard to Be Green (2000), was featured in the Whitney Biennial. Since then, her work has been exhibited widely across the United States at institutions, including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Storm King Art Center, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. In addition to being part of the National Gallery of Art, Booker’s artwork is included in over 40 collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Exhibition

In the Tower: Chakaia Booker: Treading New Ground
On view through August 2, 2026. 

Article

From Old Car Tires, Chakaia Booker Reveals Beauty and Devastation
 

Video

How Artist Chakaia Booker Turns Car Tires Into Transcendence