Freyja Fristad

Freyja Fristad is a proud First Nations (Wiradjuri) print-based artist who lives and works across Dharawal and Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia.

Her practice stems from a motivation to navigate her Australian identity by exploring the experiences of absence and presence, loss and grief in her immediate environment. She uses the method of relief printing with linoleum (lino) as her matrix. The images she utilises are a combination of photos she has taken herself, and a curated collection of stock photos she has found online. The application of a lined bitmap (halftone) to her works assists in bridging the gap between photography and print reproduction.

Fristad studies at the National Art School in Sydney where she has completed a Bachelor of Fine Art, and is currently completing her final year of Master of Fine Art. She was the recipient of the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize (Indigenous Emerging) in 2023, the Megalo Studio and Gallery Residency Award (Printmaking) in 2022, and the Mark Henry Cain Memorial Travel Scholarship in 2022. In 2023, she was a finalist in the Lloyd Rees Emerging Artist Award, and the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award.

Tell us about your creative process. What drives your practice?

I have always felt a passion for printmaking. Having been introduced to lino printing as a child, I really enjoy the process of carving and have a deep love for its materiality. I find the slow, manual methods of creation to be not only meditative, but a nod to the traditional modes of printmaking. My ritualistic and laborious process is in stark contrast to today’s instantaneous nature of online image distribution and digital printing. My practice involves finding a deeper understanding of the image - by carving along the fine, asymmetrical lines, my hands explore the knowledge represented with each intricate detail. If these prints were printed directly from the computer, I wouldn’t gain any understanding or knowledge from the process. By carving the object into the medium, I am able to enter the image, through my labour of carving. My being becomes one with the artwork I am creating, intertwining with the tactility of the linoleum and adding to its resonance. A moment of temporal suspension is drawn out through the sensuality of my carving process, whereby I enter the line and become personified within each object’s image.

What is the role of bitmapping within your practice, and can you tell us more about the decision to use a digital process rather than more conventional relief techniques?

I use the lined bitmap (halftone) to assist in bridging the gap between photography and print reproduction. At its most fundamental, the bitmap allows for an accurate photographic replication of the digital image to be transferred onto linoleum, and then carved for printing. The photograph is a picture, a representation of an idea, and the bitmap transmits the meaning and information as a printed copy. Since single-layer relief block prints typically lack the ability to convey tone, the varying thickness of the lines in my prints result in a moiré effect which, from a distance, can display an almost photorealistic image.

How do you explore perception and abstraction through your work?

Over the last few years, I have been pushing the limits of the line frequency of the bitmap and the scale of lino, with both gradually getting higher and larger respectively. The higher the frequency of line, the less distorted the resulting image is, and vice versa. The lined bitmap creates an optical interference that is reminiscent of the flickering of a digital screen or computer monitor, and the visual strain of staring at a digital screen is mimicked with this applied technique, with the image coming in and out of focus as the eye adjusts and readjusts. The continuous act of dissolving and cohering reinforces the orientation of the bitmapped image – of their origin as digital photographs.

Your works often shift from observations of domestic spaces and household objects, to natural textures and landscapes. What is the decision making process behind your subject matter and is there a connection between them?

My practice-led research is deeply informed by navigating the deprivation of cultural knowledge and information that has occurred within my family. By sourcing captured commercial stock images of readily available, mass-produced domestic objects and presenting them as metaphysical vessels, I express feelings of grief over the loss of my cultural identity. These white voids and absences symbolise the enduring experience of cultural dislocation within Australia, and the loss of Indigenous information, artefacts, and cultural knowledge.

In addition to my exploration of cultural themes, I am also producing prints that depict representations of nature. I capture the alluring features of the Australian landscape, drawing inspiration from my local environment in the southern suburbs of Sydney. Growing up between the Royal National Park and the Georges River, my childhood experiences have been closely intertwined with a strong connection to the natural surroundings of the Dharawal land.

Although the linkage between my two bodies of work may not be apparent to some, they both originate from my motivation to explore my Australian identity - navigating the experiences of absence and presence in my immediate environment.

Are there any female printmakers | artists that influence you?

There are many artists across various mediums who have influenced me in some way. Over the last few years, I have been admiring the work of the German printmaker Christiane Baumgartner. I was fortunate to see her work in person at the end of 2023, when undertaking my travel scholarship to the UK. She uses the lined bitmap to combine the earliest and the latest reproduction processes: woodcut and video. Her prints typically originate from a still from one of her videos or photographs depicting urban spaces and scenes of nature. Through this transformation of image resolution, she creates woodcuts that bring weight to an otherwise unexperienced moment.

Studying at the National Art School, I am also surrounded by so many incredible female peers, lecturers, and artists – obviously there are too many to name. I feel so fortunate to have been able to study under the guidance (and patience) of my Head of Department, Carolyn McKenzie-Craig, and supervisors, Clare Humphries and Stephanie Nova Milne. These three incredible women have mentored me and over the years, they’ve helped me identify and develop my individual artistic style. I have found that being in a communal studio space, interacting with fellow printmakers, and learning from one another, has been an incredible motivation for creativity.

Finally, what exciting projects are you working on at the moment?

I am in the final months of completing my Masters, which is the main ‘project’ I’m working on. At the moment I am feverishly working in my studio every day, and excitedly preparing for the final stages of my studies, where in two short months, I will show my body of work at the Post Graduate Show. There have been so many things that I have learnt throughout my last 5 years of study – I have really enjoyed the research aspect of making, and I am so appreciative of having worked alongside some incredible peers. Into the future, I am considering applying for more prizes and perhaps, over the next couple of years, a domestic or international residency.