Галя Моррелл

Galya Morrell

writer, explorer and adventure artist

Following the steps of her Northern ancestors, Komi reindeer herders and Pomor mammal hunters, Galya Morrell lived and travelled in the Arctic for over 40 years. Under the stage name ColdArtist, Galya explores the limits of the body and the possibilities of the mind, working in a rare genre of visual synthetic performance on the drifting sea ice. In her art she successfully fuses the tradition and modernity, the indigenous and the exotic. Most of her exhibitions were born as portable and nomadic. They have travelled the world on a reindeer, Yakutian Arctic horse, by dog-sled, donkey, camel, tractor and in a small open boat, moving between the smallest and hardest-to-reach settlements in Siberia, Greenland, Africa and Central Asia.