[4] Hughes-Freeland works in a variety of formats and mediums, and her films have been shown in diverse venues, ranging from internationally prominent museums to seedy bars in gritty neighborhoods.
"[6] Hughes-Freeland was part of the No Wave Cinema movement that began in the mid-1970s on New York City's Lower East Side, which included Scott B and Beth B, Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Jim Jarmusch, Tom DiCillo, Steve Buscemi, and Vincent Gallo.
[7] In the 1980s, this morphed into the Cinema of Transgression, in which she and other Lower East Side artists and filmmakers created no-budget films and art that contravened prevailing conventions of American society and challenged established, "correct" cultural norms.
[8] Among the earliest admirers of her work were the controversial, celebrated late artist and activist David Wojnarowicz, who bought her a super 8 camera for her filmmaking, and the writer, critic and curator Carlo McCormick, whom she later married.
Hughes-Freeland filmed the installation, which featured artists including Marilyn Minter, Luis Frangella, James Romberger, Marguerite Van Cook and Wojnarowicz.
[9] The management of the gallery, whose interior decoration included polished floors and stained glass windows, supplied the artists with beer and overnight accommodations, but was apparently unaware of the installation's transgressive nature.
[9] In 1992 Hughes-Freeland worked in collaboration with Annabelle Davies to create a film called "Dirty" based on Georges Bataille's erotic novella Blue of Noon, whose plot touches upon controversial topics like incest and necrophilia.
[4] She was one of a handful of filmmakers along with David Wojnarowicz, Richard Kern and others whose work was featured in “You Killed Me First: The Cinema of Transgression,” a significant show in 2012 at the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin.