New York-based artist Kim Dacres is giving discarded rubber a second life through a sculptural practice rooted in memory, mobility, and neighborhood connection. Each Tuesday, she gathers tires, bicycle tubes, valves, and other bike parts from Harlem businesses, building a material archive that feeds her studio work.
Her current exhibition, Lost on a Two Way Street, at Charles Moffett, brings together 18 sculptures and wall works that transform repurposed rubber into portraits and symbolic forms. The series reflects Dacres's interest in how everyday objects can carry stories about identity, belonging, and the emotional texture of city life.
A Material With Meaning
Dacres is drawn to rubber for both its physical qualities and its cultural resonance. Durable, flexible, and widely used in transportation and daily life, the material becomes in her hands a metaphor for resilience and movement. She also treats scent, touch, and circulation as part of the artwork's language, linking the material to the experience of home and access.
Her new wall-based series, Forget Me Nots, expands that idea through braided forms and warmer tones, honoring people she encounters in her community. The works are paired with titles inspired by personal memories and references to Black musical icons, including Patrice Rushen and Stevie Wonder, reinforcing the exhibition's dialogue between art, music, and lived experience.
Recent pieces also look outward, engaging themes such as climate awareness and the changing social landscape. By reshaping found materials into layered visual statements, Dacres shows how contemporary sculpture can preserve local memory while speaking to broader cultural shifts. Her work points toward an art future where sustainability and community storytelling move side by side.