Stiff Gins at the NFSA

The stunning musical duo Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs, AKA the Stiff Gins, were in Canberra this weekend as part of the Canberra Multicultural Festival Indigenous Showcase, sharing the stage with the likes of The Last Kinection and Gurrumul Yunupingu.

Before flying back to Sydney, they paid the NFSA a quick visit to explore greater connections with the Indigenous collections and to share their new creative project, The Spirit of Things – Sound of Objects, interpreting the collection at the Australian Museum in Sydney through song and performance, from a unique Indigenous world view. Joining the group for this project will be musician and producer Syd Green. More information on this exciting project is available at the Spirit of Things: Sound of Objects Facebook page.

Like many visitors to the NFSA, the Gins (as they are affectionately called) were able to use their own musical talents to play Gotye’s Fractured Heart installation, which Wally de Backer (Gotye) will officially launch at the NFSA on 15 February.

The Stiff Gins will return to Canberra on 10 March as one of the featured musical artists for Imagining the Capital: Canberra on Film, a free event in the Senate Rose Gardens celebrating the Centenary of Canberra and featuring a panorama of Canberra-related films from the NFSA collection.

As part of building an ongoing relationship the Gins will share their story through an oral history recording for the national collection and participate in the shaping of an upcoming exhibition on the importance of Indigenous Women in Music.