Booker's solo outdoor exhibition of large-scale tire sculptures opened at Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, New York.
On May 12, 2004, Storm King Art Center — one of the world's leading outdoor sculpture parks, spanning 500 acres in New York's Hudson Valley — opened a solo exhibition dedicated entirely to the work of Chakaia Booker. This was a major milestone, as Storm King has historically featured monumental works by celebrated sculptors, and a dedicated solo presentation of Booker's tire-based sculptures placed her firmly among the ranks of significant contemporary artists working at architectural scale.
The exhibition showcased Booker's signature technique: cutting, twisting, weaving, and reassembling discarded rubber tires into towering, biomorphic, and often abstract forms that evoked both organic growth and industrial detritus. Installed across Storm King's expansive grounds, the sculptures engaged directly with the landscape, inviting viewers to reconsider discarded materials as vehicles for meditations on labor, consumption, race, and the body.
This exhibition significantly expanded Booker's national visibility beyond New York City's gallery circuit, cementing her reputation as a leading American sculptor working with reclaimed industrial materials. The show ran for six months, reflecting the ambition and scale of the installation, and remains a touchstone in critical accounts of her career, frequently cited as a turning point that elevated her practice into major public and institutional contexts.