Vivid works await visitors at Rose Art Museum

The Rose Art Museum has acquired two works by up-and-coming artists as part of its permanent collection.

The works by Australia’s Dhambit Munuŋgurr and Boston’s Yu-Wen Wu reflect the museum’s dedication to innovative contemporary voices and broadening global perspectives. The acquisition was made at the bequest of the Sam Hunter Emerging Artist Fund, which honors the legacy of the Rose Art Museum’s founding director with bold acquisitions and support for rising talent. 

“We are thrilled to bring these extraordinary works into the Rose Art Museum’s permanent collection,” said Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster director and chief curator of the Rose Art Museum. “Both Yu-Wen Wu and Dhambit Munuŋgurr bring unique, deeply personal storytelling to their artmaking, expanding the museum’s ability to present diverse narratives that challenge and inspire.”

Dhambit Munuŋgurr, a Yolŋu artist of the Aboriginal Australian Gupa-Djapu clan, is known for art that redefines tradition while honoring ancestral narratives, bringing a contemporary vibrancy to the rich legacy of Yolŋu art. 

Bäru (2024), the piece selected for acquisition, is a termite-hollowed log of a eucalyptus tree traditionally used as a larrakitj — a memorial pole housing the bones of the deceased. Her vision evokes sky and sea, merging heritage and innovation in a politically charged tribute to the Yolŋu people of Australia.

Originally from Taiwan, Boston-based artist Wu explores themes of migration, identity and interconnectedness through intricate pieces that blend drawing, mapping and time-based media. Wu is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores the intersections of art, science and social and cultural issues. She has been awarded numerous public art commissions. In addition, Wu was the recipient of a 2021 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship and the 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Boston Public Library, the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge and the Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton, New Jersey.

The committee selected Wu’s Recitations (2024) for acquisition. Inspired by her Intentions series, this wall-based installation is crafted from Taiwanese tea, gold and red thread. In Recitations, a delicate strand of orbs in varying sizes, made from Taiwanese tea, is suspended from three points on the wall. The lower portions extend downward, gracefully spiraling onto a low pedestal. Some orbs shimmer with a gold finish, while others remain untouched, revealing the natural color of the tea. Together, they create a poetic meditation on transformation and materiality.

Munuŋgurr’s and Wu’s works will be included in the upcoming Fabricated Imaginaries exhibition  in the museum’s Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg and Lower Rose Galleries, which is set to open on August 20 and run through May 31, 2026. The exhibition will highlight contemporary artistic practices that occupy liminal spaces between distinct cultures and modes of expression.