Freya’s work layers multiple narratives within a single painting. Her self-portraiture becomes a means of processing trauma and grief, grounded in her belief that “drawing serves as a form of witnessing—paper becomes a space that ‘believes’ you.”

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A recurring theme in her practice is the experience of not being believed, whether in childhood or adulthood, particularly in the context of medical gaslighting and the dismissal of women’s pain.

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Her paintings often stack one form of trauma upon another, including the loss of a parent. As Freya explains, “With the death of my mother, I feel both immense grief and gratitude that my last memories of her are positive.” This duality is deeply embedded in her work.

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Freya also draws on her Lancashire roots, incorporating folk tales passed down through the women in her family; stories rich with superstition, dialect, and inherited trauma.

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Animals frequently appear throughout her paintings, referencing witches and these longstanding regional narratives.