Chakaia Booker, who lives and works in New York, combines her concerns about the environment and the struggles of women into one philosophy that has come to be called “eco-feminism.” For several years, she has produced sculpture from discarded recycled tires. The blackness of the tires and their geometric tread patterns are references to black skin, the African practice of scarification, African fabric patterns, and black hair. To Booker, the tire contains many metaphors about black life, including the long, slow, smoldering burn of a tire that has caught fire.
- Titles It's Like This (Proper)
- Artist Chakaia Booker, American, born 1953
- Medium rubber tires, screws, and wood
- Dimensions 30 x 28 x 15 in. (76.2 x 71.1 x 38.1 cm)
- Credit Line Gift of Ellen and Fred Elsas, 2003.47, image © Chakaia Booker, courtesy, Marlborough Gallery, New York
- Work Type sculpture
- Classification Sculpture
- Signature Verso, in ink: Chakaia / Booker / 2001
- Inscription On visible part of tire: AMERICAN SILVER 5000
- Provenance Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA; Collection of Ellen and Fred Elsas, Birmingham, AL; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, 2003