Homecoming: Chakaia Booker
Artist
Homecoming: Chakaia Booker
On view: May 2026 – April 2027
In celebration of the Park’s 40th Anniversary, Socrates Sculpture Park has invited alumna artist Chakaia Booker to return to the Park with an exhibition of two monumental works, Serendipity (1998) and Gridlock (2008).
Internationally acclaimed for her technique, medium, and sinuous forms, Booker experimented with modularity and scale at Socrates in 1994 and 1997, and remained an artist educator throughout the 2000s. Booker’s reengagement in the context of our 40th Anniversary invites a reflection on the history of artists who made Socrates what it is, and by extension, a lineage of Black women artists who have marked their place within the canon of public art.
Booker’s return represents a full-circle moment, allowing audiences to experience the evolution of her work and engage with a site formative to her practice, while emphasizing Socrates’ longstanding commitment to creative risks, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.
About Chakaia Booker
Chakaia Booker (born: 1953, Newark, New Jersey) is an internationally renowned and widely collected American sculptor known for creating monumental, abstract works from recycled tires and stainless steel for both the gallery and outdoor public spaces. Booker’s works are contained in more than 40 public collections and have been exhibited across the US, in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Booker was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Recent public installation highlights include Millennium Park, Chicago (2016-2018), Garment District Alliance Broadway Plazas, New York, NY (2014), and National Museum of Women in the Arts New York Avenue Sculpture Project, Washington DC (2012).