Reena Wu is a Chinese-Canadian artist based in Queens, New York, working across illustration and the art of tattooing. She holds an MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and is also a licensed tattoo artist.
At the core of her practice is a love for drawing as a physical, daily act. Her work often begins with familiar, everyday scenes that she gently shifts into something more surreal, guided by an expressive line and a playful sense of color. Drawing from her own lived experiences, she uses metaphor and personal symbolism to create images that feel more than they explain.
Alongside her illustration work, Reena’s tattooing reflects a deep interest in connection and permanence. Her designs are bold and intentional, shaped by influences from ornamental patterns, textiles, and folk art traditions, and created with a sensitivity to how they live on the body.
We spoke to the artist to learn more about her journey, process, and inspiration.
Where are you from and how did you find illustration and tattooing as a practice?
I was born in Toronto but moved to Suzhou, China when I was a year old. I grew up there until my family moved back to Toronto just in time for me to start middle school. I was a socially awkward kid, so I always found a lot of comfort and self-confidence in drawing. I ended up going to college for illustration and really loved it, but I started getting tattooed around the same time, and it really piqued my interest. I began to become more invested in tattooing as an art form.
As someone who grew up not feeling the most comfortable in my own body, I found a lot of grounding in the way that tattoos helped me physically connect with myself. The tangibility of them helped me close the gap of disconnection between myself and my physical body. I see the practice of tattooing as such a special way to root yourself, and I aim to provide this feeling to whoever needs it as well.
I spent a few years solely tattooing but still felt an urge to explore different mediums and devote more time back into illustration. It’s now been about a year of fully throwing myself into my illustration practice, and I just keep getting more obsessed the more I learn.
Has your own health shaped the way you make and sustain your practice?
Yes, definitely. Tattooing and drawing are such physical practices, and they really take a toll on your body between the postures and eye strain. I’ve also turned into a bit of a night owl with my work, so it’s been a little bit of a struggle to find a balance with that.
I started yoga about two years ago, and it’s been a huge positive addition to my life. It’s really made me more aware of how I hold my body when I’m working, as well as given me a space to let go of any creative pressure. Not to keep talking about grounding myself, but it really is a time where I feel like I can reset in order to maintain the level of ideation I want and the level of production I want.
On the contrary, does your health and personal life shape the visual choices you make as an illustrator and tattoo artist?
The last year has been really focused on building my portfolio and figuring out what my visual voice is, and what’s helped me the most with this is drawing upon my personal life and exploring how to illustrate the feeling of those experiences.
I think truly impactful art requires a lot of bravery and truth, and while I don’t feel quite there yet, I’ve found that I really love working through metaphor. For instance, using personal symbols to create scenes that hold a lot of meaning for myself but may not be easy to decipher by others. I like creating imagery that holds a certain mood, in which meaning is more felt than explained. As I’ve grown more confident, the language of my tattooing has become more direct and is beginning to hold more presence as well.
You mention being inspired by ornamental patterns and folk art. Can you say more about that connection?
There’s just so much soul in folk art. It’s so driven by lived experience and by the mythologies of communities, and I absolutely adore the longevity and universality of those types of stories.
I’ve always been drawn to mythology and folklore, especially the way the world can be explained by this intuitive, dream-like logic, and I like to try to carry that sense of absurdism into my illustration work.
I got really into looking at textiles last year, and I definitely drew a lot of influence from Turkish and Persian rugs when I was exploring and developing my style for tattooing. The soft, organic quality of a rug and the way the designs flow with the structure of the weave was something I really absorbed. Similarly, a tattoo design should flow with the softness and curve of a body. I want to tattoo art that is bold and long-lasting, in the same way that these rugs hold their image through decades and are shaped by the life of their owner.
I have also always had a deep interest in wildlife. Animals are such a constant in folklore and ornamental art across all cultures, and there’s just so much endless fun in drawing from that bank of imagery and symbolism.
As someone working across illustration and tattooing, how do you navigate the push and pull between creative output and personal wellbeing?
I think I’m somebody who has a hard time having any kind of creative output when things are a little more turbulent in my life. So it’s been a process to learn to trust my body and give myself the time to absorb experiences and not be so anxious about being productive during those times. It’s also become important for me to really push myself to have a social life outside of my work. It can be really difficult to do so, especially as a freelancer without a set schedule, as I have the tendency to feel like I should always be creating. However, it’s definitely needed, as ideas and output come much more easily when I have more life experiences to draw from.
