GAIL PRIEST is a Sydney/Katoomba-based artist with a multi-faceted practice in which sound is the key material of communication and investigation. Her work spans solo electro-acoustic composition for performance and recordings, soundtracks for dance, theatre and video and gallery installations. She has performed at festivals and events (Open Frame, Liquid Architecture, Sydney Biennale, MESS, MPavilion) and released albums on Flaming Pines, Endgame Records and her own label Metal Bitch. Gail has exhibited sound-based installations nationally and internationally, including Experimenta Make Sense (2018-2020) and her Sounding the Future project (2014-2017) was exhibited in Germany, Hong Kong and Sydney. She curates and produces sound events and exhibitions including the experimental music series Pretty Gritty (2013-2017) and is the founder of Audible Women, an online directory for female-identified artists working with experimental sound.
I seek to have a multifaceted practice that explores the aural realm both materially and conceptually. The many manifestations of this play out an ongoing argument between figuration and abstraction. My work approaches this duality not as a battle of binaries but rather as an exploration of areas of slippage. The intention is to manifest liminal zones where oppositions bleed into each other as fine-shaded gradients. In terms of curation I seek to create contexts that ensure artists’ integrity of practice while coaxing curious relations and resonances between their work through conceptual and thematic provocations. The combinations and accumulations aim to challenge and seduce an audience in equal measure, encouraging a state of heightened aural awareness and openness.