ESSAY BY DONNA TENNANT, NOVEMBER 2023, HOUSTON

Russian artist Gulia Groenke was born in one of the most polluted places on the planet. Norilsk is the northernmost city in Siberia and the second-largest city inside the Arctic Circle.
Due to its location above some of the largest nickel deposits on Earth and rich deposits of copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, and coal as well, mining and smelting ore are its dominant industries.

Before her birth, Groenke’s father moved to Norilsk for its attractive wages, and although he did not intend to stay forever, eventually he sent for Groenke’s mother and their older daughter. Later, Groenke was born there and stayed until she was 21 years old.

In Norilsk, contamination from the extensive mining operations destroys trees and vegetation and pollutes lakes and rivers. In “Future Passing,” a large photograph augmented with paint and mixed media, Groenke depicts the devastation that has resulted from this mining. The photograph, which was taken many years ago in Norilsk, depicts people swimming in a pond near a large lake. The pond is surrounded by rocks, to which Groenke has added what appears to be dirt and gravel, as well as fragments of wood shaped like coffins. Large factories on the horizon belch toxic clouds into the air.  

“I was shocked at how people who live there still have fun,” Groenke said. “They swim in the water despite the danger to their health.”  

According to the artist, the average life expectancy in Russia is 67, but in Norilsk, it is only 57 due to the compromised environment. Although the wages are higher and workers have as much as half a year off, they pay for these advantages with their health. Groenke’s next body of work deals with this discrepancy and is titled “Minus 10 – Behind the Circle.”

“I want to tell the story of this place,” she said. “Norilsk was part of the chain of Russian gulags. Stalin sent political prisoners to this town, which wasn’t on any map. Before Perestroika, not even Russians knew this place existed. It was a military city, and you needed an invitation to come here. You had to fly, as there were no trains or roads.”

Several years ago, Groenke’s sister invited her to visit her father’s grave in Norilsk. “It was shocking to go there after so many years,” she said. “I don’t like to be political, but I do want to tell this story. My new work is about the sacrifices these miners made by working there.”

“Inflamed Spirits,” the title of the Redbud Arts Centeshow, refers to a painting inspired when her husband’s sister and family were forced to evacuate their home in California due to a massive forest fire. They spent a week in a hotel, not knowing if their home had survived.

“All the worry and emotions we experienced gave me the idea to do this painting,” Groenke said. The piece has three sections—the bottom depicts fire raging through the trees, the middle area shows blackened treetops, and above that is a sky filled with smoke.

Luckily, the wind shifted, and their home was spared. “Due to fires, floods, or tornadoes, people sometimes have to start over,” Groenke said. “You can’t always escape. Nature can be destructive, but it can also heal and recharge us. It is all part of the circle of life.”

Groenke moved to Berlin when she was 21 and is now a German citizen. Her husband, a dual German and U.S. citizen, first came to California as an exchange student and, years later, to Dallas, where his business is located. His parents were friends and collectors of the late artists Edward and Nancy Kienholz, who lived in Hope, Idaho. After visiting, they bought a house there, and Groenke and her husband began spending time in Hope. Living in the natural environment has inspired her to focus on her art full-time. She met Houston-based sculptor Sharon Kopriva and Irish painter Brian Maguire in Hope, both of whom have influenced her work.

It was Maguire who encouraged Groenke to become more serious about painting despite not having a formal art education. “Brian gave me a few lessons in the beginning,” Groenke said. “Not technical art lessons but how to use art to express my feelings and tell my story.”

Maguire addressed Groenke’s work in the “Inflamed Spirits” exhibition catalogue, writing, “The two great overriding issues of our time—the natural environment and war—are the conditions of the present. The works are drawn from her youth. The work challenges us to determine where we are now, today, and silently asks what we should be doing.”

As a child, Groenke sketched from nature and pursued her passion for art in secret. She recalls discovering the work of nineteenth-century Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky, particularly “The Ninth Wave.” The ninth wave is a nautical term for a particularly large wave that follows a succession of smaller waves. The painting is a sublimely romantic view of shipwrecked sailors on a precarious raft in a churning sea. Groenke became fascinated with the forces of nature at an early age and continues to express those feelings in her paintings today.

Groenke returns to Berlin frequently, where she has seen an increase in the number of refugees. “That is because Germany has excellent social programs,” she said. In “Forced Migration,” Groenke paints abstracted figures wandering in an obscured landscape that seems to be on fire. Isolated from one another, the migrants seem to float in a thick haze. “I am working on more paintings about immigration,” she said. “As an emigrant myself, I understand other emigrants.”

In “Yearning for Peace,” a haunted childlike face emerges from the background amid a scenario of pollution and dying trees. “I hope to raise awareness in people of the strong connection between humans and nature, as well as its fragility,” Groenke said. She often visits national parks such as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Zion.

When she went to see the Grand Canyon, the main road was closed, but a local told her about a back road to the canyon. “No one was there,” Groenke said. “The experience brought tears to my eyes. You see eternity, and it makes you feel so small. At a time when ecological challenges are becoming increasingly urgent, I hope my art can help foster a deeper critical questioning, appreciation, and mindfulness of nature.”