Kiah Celeste, a New York native who trained as a photographer at SUNY Purchase, abandoned photography after graduation and turned to sculpture, drawing inspiration from her experience as an art handler at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her practice involves "foraging" for discarded materials—such as a marble tub, old CDs, acrylic skylight domes, and bowling balls—which she transforms into works like *Balance Bath* (2019), *Ouroboros* (2025), and the "Dream of Pearl" (2023) series. Celeste has shown in two-person exhibitions at Document Gallery in Chicago and Swivel Gallery in New York, and her sculptures explore tension between abstraction and recognizable objects, Minimalism and Pop, and her own intersecting identities as Black and Jewish, feminine and androgynous.
This profile matters because it highlights a rising sculptor whose resourceful, environmentally conscious approach—using only found or used objects—offers a fresh perspective on contemporary sculpture. Celeste's ability to make everyday refuse feel elegant and weightless, while engaging with art-historical movements like Minimalism and readymades, positions her as an artist to watch. The article also underscores how hands-on labor (art handling) can catalyze a creative practice, and how personal identity can infuse abstract work with layered meaning.