Samantha Joy Groff

Groff’s paintings capture the duality of hard living and deep religious yearning within a rural female experience. Drawing on her upbringing in a Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, she uses figure paintings to process personal tragedies and unpack the cultural mystique of the Mennonites. The women she features are often antagonistic and emotionally indulgent. Her practice flirts with Appalachian Fatalism, the cultural mindset of hopelessness in many towns like hers. Samantha received her MFA from Yale School of Art and earned a dual undergraduate degree from Parsons School of Design in integrated fashion design and film studies. Select Exhibitions include Ángeles Agrela, June Canedo de Souza, Æmen Ededéen, Samantha Joy Groff, Teresa Murta, Daniel Pitín, Nicodim, New York (2026); Prophecy of the End, Nicodim, New York (2024, solo); The Ballad of the Children on the Czar, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2024); HUNTRESS, Half Gallery, Los Angeles (2024, solo).