Yu-Wen Wu Receives 2026 Wagner Arts Fellowship and Presents New Museum Commission

Yu-Wen Wu, Recitations II, 2026. Gilded, natural, painted tea, red thread. 108 x 50 x 49 in. Image by Will Howcroft, courtesy the artist.

Yu-Wen Wu is featured alongside Tomashi Jackson and Lucy Kim in 2026 Wagner Arts Fellows: Tomashi Jackson, Lucy Kim, and Yu-Wen Wu, on view at Wagner Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, through December 2, 2026. All three artists were selected as 2026 Wagner Arts Fellows. 

The exhibition brings together three Greater Boston artists whose material-driven, research-based practices examine the social, technological, and political conditions shaping contemporary life. Wu’s interdisciplinary practice draws on her experience of migration to explore the intersections of art, science, the natural world, and social and cultural issues. Working across large-scale drawing, site-specific video installation, community-engaged projects, and public art, she investigates global migration, displacement, and the nuances of identity and belonging. 

Wu’s presentation includes Recitations II (2026), created with tea and red thread, and Acculturation VII (2025), composed of gilded tea leaves. Through these materials, the works extend her ongoing inquiry into migration, identity, and belonging. 

The Wagner Arts Fellowship supports mid-career to established visual artists in Greater Boston through a $75,000 unrestricted grant and tailored artist services offered in partnership with United States Artists. 

2026 Wagner Arts Fellows: Tomashi Jackson, Lucy Kim, and Yu-Wen Wu 
Dates: August 19–December 2, 2026 
Venue: Wagner Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts 
Visits by appointment