FREYA DOOLEY

CONTACT / freyadooley (at) gmail (dot) com

I’m a visual artist and sound designer, and my practice encompasses writing, sound, music, moving-image and performance. Navigating connections between divergent subjects, the wider themes in my work relate to the harmonies and tensions between personal and collective experiences, with a particular interest in structures of work and domestic life. Often rooted in close-range observations and informed by diverse cinematic, literary and musical references, my work often comprises semi-fictional narratives and layered soundtracks which expand outwards in scale; weaving together voice, electronics and instrumentation. I recieved a Women Make Music Award from PRS Foundation in 2024.

I was the Creative Wales Fellow at the British School at Rome in 2021, where I was researching the politics and history of dubbing, and experimental approaches to post-synchronised voice and sonic artifice in Italian Cinema. In 2022 I was awarded a Wales Venice 10 Artes Mundi Commission. My solo exhibition False Note at Site Gallery, Sheffield (2024) was co-commissioned by Artes Mundi and Wales in Venice as part of that project.

The three films in that exhibition explored the musical and idiomatic meanings of the term ‘false note‘ in relationship to neoliberal workplace structures. Defined in music as a note that has been muted to the point that there is no discernable pitch, a 'false note' is still an essential part of the composition and its rhythm; much like the protagonists of the films as they navigate their assigned positions within unstable systems. To strike a false note also means to miss the mark, and the films follow characters who feel inconsistent: they are incongruent with their [work] environments, oscillating between compliance and refusal. Themes of individualised responsibility and social connection underpin my practice.

I also work with other artists, DJs, musicians and collectives, and I make music, performances and soundscapes in collaboration with the musician Emma Daman Thomas. Our recent performance to close ‘False Note’ was supported by PRS Foundation, and an EP of some of these compositions is in development. I also share an ongoing collaborative practice with artist Cinzia Mutigli. Cinzia and I have been making performance, broadcasts, events and publications since 2013. Our solo exhibition All You Need to Do Is Take It was commissioned by GS Artists, Swansea in June 2023, supported by the Arts Council of Wales.

I’m currently sitting a four-year term on the a-n Artist Council (2022-26). I also work part-time as Artist Development Manager for Tŷ Cerdd - Music Centre Wales. I was a member of the Unite the Union (Wales) Future Leaders Programme in 2022-23.

Other solo exhibitions and performances include Diamonds and Rust, Goldsmiths CCA, London (2022); Temporary Commons, Jerwood Solo Presentations at Jerwood Arts, London (2021); The Eavesdropper, a site-specific moving-image commission for Green Man Festival, (2021); Scenes from Between the Mountains and the Sea, Beppu Project, Oita, Japan (2020) supported by Wales Arts International; Ventriloquy for Radio, Holden Gallery, Manchester (2020) which was aquired in the French National Collection by FRAC Champagne-Ardenne in 2022; New Writing with New Contemporaries, with performances at Leeds Art Gallery and South London Gallery (2019-20); The Song Settles Inside the Body it Borrows, Chapter Gallery, Cardiff (2019); Somewhere in the Crowd There’s You, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2019). A vinyl record edition was published by Eastside Projects in 2020. Recent group exhibitions and screenings include Roma, a Portrait, curated by Magic Lantern Film Festival, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (2023); Il était une fois, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, France (2023); Eco-Futura Cinema, Carriage Works, Denbigh (2023); and the Winter Mostra, British School at Rome, Italy (2021).

I hold an MA in Sound Design from Bath Spa University and a BA in Fine Art from Cardiff School of Art and Design. In 2017-18 I was a member of Syllabus III, an alternative peer-led learning programme jointly delivered by Wysing Arts Centre, Eastside Projects, New Contemporaries, S1 Artspace, Spike Island, Studio Voltaire and Iniva.

I’m Associate Tutor (BA Fine Art) at Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff Met University, and a visiting tutor at UWE, Bristol (BA Art & Writing). I freelance as a tutor, mentor and workshop fascilitator, working mainly in adult/life-long learning and post-cumpolsory eductation in gallery, FE and community settings. Organisations I’ve worked with include Goldsmiths, London (BA Fine Art & History of Art); Arts Catalyst, Sheffield; Adult Learning Wales; Aurora Trinity Collective, Cardiff; Cardiff Open Art School; ABF Step-Change programme, Cardiff Metropolitan University; Made in Roath, Cardiff; Peak, Abergavenny; Artes Mundi; Tate St Ives; ebc/east bristol contemporary Nightschool & Dayschool, Bristol; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; g39, Cardiff; A2 Connect and The National Museum Wales.

Alongside my own practice I am a freelance Sound Designer and have experience in narrative audio, soundtracking for moving image, multi-channel installation and podcasts. I specialise in spatial audio design and installation. I’m available for freelance projects involving sound design, recording, editing, post-production, teaching and mentoring - email freyadooley (at) gmail (dot) com. I’m based in Cardiff.