Yu-Wen Wu is an artist whose work explores the intersection of art, science, and the natural world as well as social and cultural issues. Wu began her residency in June 2024 and returned in November to explore Isabella’s collection with a special interest in the Museum’s Asian art collection and the living collection of flora and fauna. Wu spent her mornings in the Cloisters, observing the horticulture team at work. Having her residency span across multiple seasons gave her the opportunity to learn about the variety of rotating plants that come in and out of the Courtyard while collecting samples to examine in her on-site studio. She studied plant life cycles off-site in the Hingham greenhouses, gaining an understanding of the behind-the-scenes operations that keep the Courtyard in perpetual bloom. In July, she volunteered to help prune the Campanula pyramidalis in preparation for their Courtyard showcase. These bellflowers, with heart-shaped leaves and twisting spires of blue and white blooms, require meticulous care to be ready for their August display.
Wu also took advantage of the quiet mornings when the Museum was closed to spend time exploring the galleries. Housed on an ornately carved shelf in the Short Gallery Wu noticed a group of curious objects including a small bronze Guanyin and a piece of iron. The iron was a gift to Isabella by her interpreter and guide to Angkor at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, along with a small standing figure of Vishnu. Another object that caught Wu’s attention was a volume of the Floral Art of Japan. This book was the first to introduce the Japanese art of ikebana, or flower arranging, to an English-speaking audience and features vibrant woodcuts of gardens, interiors, and arrangement techniques by the Japanese artist Ogata Gekko.
In the Archives, Wu viewed Isabella’s travel albums from the Gardners’ trip to Asia in 1883. Several pages of the album contain small plant cuttings that Isabella collected from the gardens and temples they visited and pressed inside. Wu also examined photographs by Thomas Marr and Son of the Gardner’s homes at 152 Beacon St., Boston and Green Hill, a 40-acre estate in Brookline where Isabella created several gardens. Among them were an Italian garden and a Japanese Garden, where the delicate Japanese iris rhizomes Isabella ordered in Yokohama were nurtured to thrive in New England’s harsh climate by using warm water pumped from the greenhouses to the garden beds.
Wu visited the Conservation Labs several times, observing work on the Black Glass Madonna from the Veronese Room and fabric fragments that covered the Dutch Room walls before being reupholstered in 1952. The team walked her through their treatment process, sharing research and testing examples that were conducted on a 17th-century Japanese screen of Grapevines from the Second Floor Stair Hall. Wu also spent an afternoon in the Labs studying a tea set assembled by Isabella’s close friend, Okakura Kakuzo who gifted it to her in 1905. The set includes over 24 pieces, featuring a bronze brazier and kettle, along with various vessels, boxes, tools, and equipment. Additionally, she visited TKM Associates conservation studio in Sommerville. This team, who specialize in historic and artistic works on paper, was restoring a set of paintings mounted as hanging scrolls from the Collection that will be displayed in an upcoming exhibition.
Yu-Wen Wu’s diverse body of work includes large-scale drawings, site-specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art. She has been invited to create a new work for the Museum’s Facade public art space June - October, 2025.
Yu Wen Wu’s (b. 1958, Taipei, Taiwan) 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.
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.