Yu-Wen Wu, (Taipei, Taiwan), is an artist who delves into the interplay between art, science, the natural world, and social and cultural issues. Her diverse body of work includes large-scale drawings, site-specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art. Yu-Wen’s artistic practice powerfully reflects her journey as an immigrant, delving into the complexities of migration, the nuances of identity, and global discourse. She invites audiences to reflect on their relationship with the environment and each other, creating immersive experiences that challenge conventional boundaries. Her durational works invite audiences to experience art as a process and enhance the cultural fabric of the communities involved.
Yu-Wen Wu’s work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington; Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece; Xippas Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland; Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA; Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College, NY; the Nielsen Library, Smith College, Northampton, MA; SITE, Santa Fe NM; Perlman Teaching Museum at Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis MN; ICA MECA, Portland ME; Rosecliff Mansion, Newport, RI; Center for Border Studies, Cucuta Colombia; and the Praise Shadows Art Gallery, Brookline MA.
She has received numerous awards, including the inaugural Prilla Smith Brackett Award (Davis Museum, Wellesley MA), a national grant from the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Brother Thomas Fellowship. In 2023 she was awarded the James and Audrey Foster Prize with a solo exhibition at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.
Yu-Wen Wu: Reigning Beauty 2025
This summer, violets, nasturtiums, and hydrangeas escape from the Gardner’s greenhouses and rain down the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade in a site-specific installation by Artist-in-Residence Yu-Wen Wu. Inspired by Isabella's passion for plants and the loving care given to our “Living Collection” by the Museum’s horticulture team, Wu composed a collage of photographs of the Gardner’s flowers, transforming individual blossoms into a windswept shower blooming bright against dark storm clouds.
At once an homage to the fleeting beauty of the natural world and meditation on the precious vulnerability of the environment, Reigning Beauty will crown the Façade from June 17 – October 14, 2025 and is part of this summer’s inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial.
Featured Courtyard Plants
Check out the flip book with photographs of the flowers and plants Yu-Wen Wu took in the Museum's Courtyard and greenhouses to make this collage photographs she took in the Museum’s Courtyard to make this collage or view it below.