In the Tower: Chakaia Booker

See three awe-inspiring sculptures by an American artist who transforms tires to explore environmental concerns.

For over four decades, Chakaia Booker has cut, coiled, and contorted tires, sculpting the industrial waste into spectacular abstract forms. Booker uses discarded tires both as a commentary on cultural histories and experiences and as a sustainable practice. Salvaging the tires avoids their disposal into landfills, where they trap and emit methane gas that pollutes the environment and contributes to global warming. Her works encourage us to consider the history of the material of tires as well as the effect rubber can have on our future.

Three monumental wall relief sculptures—Acid Rain (2001), Echoes in Black (Industrial Cicatrization) (1996), and It’s So Hard to Be Green (2000)—are presented. Each sculpture spans 20 to 21 feet wide and features a mass of curled bands of tire rubber, some interspersed with spiky shards, coiled strips, and loops made from inner tubes. Booker’s six-part photogravure series Foundling Warrior Quest (II 21C) (2010) showcases the artist as a mythical being foraging in a harsh, industrial landscape.