info for presenters and press

Photos and biographies of various lengths can be downloaded below for use in promotional material. You are welcome to edit as needed, as well as use my image descriptions and alt text for web accessibility. There is also a document at the end of this page outlining my accessibility needs. This includes requesting those attending in-person meetings wear N95/P2 masks due to my susceptibility to covid complications.

BIO PHOTOS

2023
Photo credit: Thembi Soddell

Photo of Thembi Soddell
Image description: Photo of Thembi Soddell, a white person in their early 40s with short brown hair, shaved at the sides and longer on top. They stare straight into the camera, have a black top on with headphones around their neck. The background is a dark, textured grey and the lighting of the photo creates a dark mood

Download 300DPI (3.9MB) File here.

2021
Photo credit: Thembi Soddell

Headshot of Thembi Soddell
Image Description: Headshot of Thembi Soddell with their head turned to the left side and minimal lighting. Thembi is white, aged 41, andwearing a black top with a cowl neck and a gold necklace. There is a dark grey, textured background and strips of soft light to the right, some of which light parts of Thembi’s face. The background to Thembi’s left is almost black as the light recedes.
2500 x 1407 JPEG (227KB)

6240 × 3512 JPEG (13.8MB)

Headshot of Thembi Soddell
Image Description: Headshot of Thembi Soddell facing the camera in low lighting. Thembi is white, aged 41 and wearing a black top with a cowl neck and a gold necklace. There is a dark grey, textured background and strips of soft light to the right, some of which light parts of Thembi’s face, mostly on the right side. The background to Thembi’s left is almost black as the light recedes.
2500 x 1407 JPEG (224KB)

2018
Photo credits Thembi Soddell

Bio photo of Thembi Soddell 2018
Image description: Photograph of Thembi Soddell sitting in a black chair, leaning forward. They are well lit and looking straight into the camera, white, aged 37 and have brown shoulder length hair with their fringe covering one eye. They are wearing a dark grey open jacket with zippered hoodie underneath, slightly unzipped. There are three Genelec speakers behind them facing toward the chair, two to the side pointing inwards, one above pointing downwards. The background is black.
1800×1200, 72dpi, 1.4MB
5184×3456, 72dpi, 4.8MB

2017
Photo credits Thembi Soddell

Closeup of Thembi Soddell
Image description: Well lit close up photograph of Thembi Soddell’s face staring straight into the camera cropped at the forehead and just below the clavicle. Thembi is aged 37, white with blue eyes, a slightly furrowed brow, and short light brown hair that comes to their ears. The background is plain white and they are wearing a plain black top with a crew neck.
3864×2575, 72dpi, 2.3MB
Thembi Soddell in Studio
Image description: Photo of Thembi Soddell facing the camera in soft, shadowy lighting with their studio equipment behind them. Thembi is white, aged 37 and wearing a black top that shows their arms and decolletage. The equipment behind them shows a mixing desk, computer monitor with the software sampler Kontakt open, a computer keyboard, closed laptop, an external hard drive and small genelec speakers.
400×266 JPEG 12KB

BIOGRAPHIES

Current biography May 2024 (332 words):
Please feel free to edit for your purpose. Where possible, please send edit through for approval.

Dr Thembi Soddell is an award-winning sound artist, composer and practice-based researcher whose key interest lies in the unsettling nature of abstract, acousmatic sound and its potential for generating new understandings of madness and trauma. Using large PAs or structural multispeaker installations, they offer audiences intense encounters with the psychological impact of sound and darkness. 

Their last album, Love Songs (ROOM40, 2018), was praised for its ‘innovative approach to form’ (Fluid Radio) and ‘fearless conceptual framework’ (Self-Titled Magazine), its launch winning the 2019 Green Room Award for Contemporary Sound Performance. Its companion installation, Held Down, Expanding (2018), premiered at MONA-FOMA, becoming a finalist in the 2019 APRA-AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Experimental Music.

In 2019 they completed a practice-based PhD, A Dense Mass of Indecipherable Fear: The Experiential (Non)Narration of Trauma and Madness through Acousmatic Sound (RMIT University). This led to two major commissions for The Big Anxiety Festival 2022: UnKnowing Madness, a composition developed through workshops designed for people complex trauma, run by Soddell alongside Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, Dr Vanessa Godden and Mehak Sheikh; and Who Is Doing What to Whom? (Object Impermanence) a multispeaker installation exploring the experiential impact of emotional abuse.

Soddell is of Polish and Anglo-Celtic descent, born and living on Djaara Country in regional Victoria. Their work has been presented in galleries including Museo Reina Sofia (2020), Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (2016), Institute of Modern Art (2016), Wellington City Gallery (2013) and SFMOMA (2002), among others. They have performed extensively across Australia, Aotearoa and Europe, guest-curated for the National Gallery of Victoria (2013), mentored through SIGNAL (2019, 2020, 2022), undertaken a Regional Arts Victoria Fellowship (2020), had research published in Organised Sound (2020) and Disclaimer (2021), and a chapter in the book The Big Anxiety: Taking Care of Mental Health in Times of Crisis (2022). The affective impact of their work is discussed by Dr Cat Hope in the book The Body in Sound, Music and Performance: Studies in Audio and Sonic Arts (2022).


Biographies of various lengths can be found in the following document (ranging from 80-500) – Last updated May 2021

PDF (70KB)
Word Document (11KB)

Accessibility Considerations

This document outlines my accessibility needs. Key points include:
– At least 2-week notice of deadlines
– A need for fragrance and mould free events and venues
– Considerations for sensory sensitives
– Request those attending in-person meetings wear N95/P2 masks, ensure good ventilation of indoor spaces, and maintain social distancing.

Access-Needs-Thembi-SoddellDownload