Welcome. Sister Ninny Nurdles signing in to tell you about what’s been going on, what’s happening currently, and what’s to come before us.
Let’s start from the beginning… The Book of Genesis, page – wait, not that beginning.
Sister GlitterNullius and Sister Ninny Nurdles are two nuns with completely diverse conceptions and backgrounds, brought to you by Kim and Lucas’ project apart of the Biennale of Sydney 2020. For more information on their goals to achieve a Plastic-Free Biennale, click here.
Hence, The Sisters of Perpetual Plastix were born.
Back in January sometime, Lucas and Kim sat me down over a cappuccino and pitched the idea of generating a performative event that sat within the parameters of their project. This performance would be based around the ideas of entrapment felt by collaborators, Biennale team members, and the general public, wanting to confess plastic waste habits and choices to both Kim and Lucas. Excited to finally hone in on some of the skills I’d developed over the past four years spent at UOW, I was motivated, driven and excited to see what would finally eventuate.
We jumped in head first, starting to compile various props, and purchased our eBay sought-out nun costumes. We met in-person back in February on campus to try them on as well as workshop ideas, and man, it was a spiritual experience to say the very least. Once I was in costume, any doubt I had about acting or embodying the character of a nun had dissolved.
Juundaal had her character mapped out in her brain better than I knew myself at this point. She had a full on, in-depth character planned out, whereas I was just happy being an alternate version of myself in a nun costume experimenting with concepts of plastic absolution. I realised that I’m currently more interested in the symbolism of religious figureheads like nuns, and curious to see how I can reshape that preconceived idea in various ways with aid of a relationship of plastics.
Then we were all told that the Biennale had been shut down due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Shit. Well that canned our idea to perform and interact with punters on Cockatoo Island. We all anticipated the news due to the social distancing rules and regulations, but now we were left with a fleshed out concept, anticipation and excitement and nowhere to stage it.
We were privileged and fortunate enough to travel along to some events and meetings on the island and the reader launch at the Aesop store on the Rocks, all very short-lived but extremely enriching.
It’s been decided that instead of working against this virus, we have to work with, or in conjunction with it. Due to the advancement of technologies, we have decided to adapt our content to fit in an online space. We have currently planned holding weekly live streaming events on Instagram that invite viewers to directly communicate any of their plastic waste sins to both Sisters, but are still working around current social restrictions and regulations. It’s still in development, but should hopefully be announced with further information within the coming weeks. To stay up-to-date with what we’re doing, follow our collective Instagram page.
Kim and I have been shooting some ‘fun nun’ content when and where we can. Sister Ninny Nurdles had her first experience at the beach, and thoroghly enjoyed frolocking among the waves and rolling among the sand. More of that content is still to come within the coming days, and can be found on this blog. We also filmed some experimentation at one of our local cemeteries. We have also been conducting routine week meetings with the team via Zoom, which helps add some structure back into daily life.
I also want to sincerely thank Kim and Lucas for giving us this platform to be creative. Despite these circumstances we are all in, they have been more than understanding, compassionate and open.
I also want to thank Juundaal for being such a wonderful collaborator and such a supportive friend, I am excited to see where this ultimately takes us, and discover new things about ourselves and each other.
This is an absolute dream role to step into post-study, and I am so fortunate to work alongside such a supportive team. It’s not very often you have the opportunity to work closely with genuinely kind people.
Stay tuned for more updates regarding our live stream mass, our live stream sermon, or whatever it might be – information will be shared on the blog, or on our Instagram. You can also expect some video content, poetry, and further writing material about character development, performance workshopping and general logging entries from me.
Thanks for reading along this far, stay safe.
Sister Ninny Nurdles signing off.