Shelley Niro

Shelley Niro (b. 1954, Niagara Falls, New York) is a multi-disciplinary artist and a member of the Turtle Clan of the Kanyen'kehà:ka (Mohawk) Nation, from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory. She lives and works in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  

 

In an oeuvre spanning four decades, Niro has developed an influential and visionary practice that foregrounds the representation of indigenous people, their history, and present-day experience, often centering the stories of women. Working across multiple media, including painting, photography, video, sculpture, beadwork, printmaking and collage, Niro's urgent work advocates for the importance of self-representation.

 

Niro's practice delves into the timeless cultural knowledge and generational histories of her Haudenosaunee community, Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast America. The preservation of tradition and ritual is important to Niro, and this manifests in her work in material, aesthetic and conceptual ways. Oral histories as well as traditional modes of making, such as beadwork, are interwoven with contemporary and daily life. Niro 'consistently folds her understanding of past, her observance of present, and her dreams of future onto an organic whole that is both forthcoming and fearless.'[1]

 

In realistic and symbolic portrayals of identity, Niro advocates indigenous visibility, focusing on bonds of friendship, family and matriarchy. Pictorial allegories of herself and her community act as a commemorative, continuous archive, which connects personal narratives to a wider political and social commentary. Across her career, she explores archetypes of both men and women with nuance, playing with subtle visual ironies to challenge preconceived views. Her use of humor combined with popular references are a tool to reveal layered and complex legacies. 

 

A continuous thread throughout Niro's work is her connection to the natural world, drawing on personal and collective memory of place. Imagery of the land, sky, moon and cosmos are drawn directly from indigenous stories - modern incarnations of legends become foundational in evoking strength throughout her work. Honoring cultural practices, whilst also shaping new pathways of exploration, Niro contributes to a long rich history of indigenous story telling. 

 

 

Niro's first major retrospective Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch is organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Hamilton with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, New York and the National Gallery of Canada. The exhibition was first presented at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY, USA (2024); touring to Art Gallery of Hamilton, ON, Canada (2024); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON (2024); Vancouver Art Gallery, BC, Canada (2025); Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK, Canada (2025).  

 

In 2003 Niro was included in the Venice Biennale showcasing her photography work as well as her short film The Shirt, which was later screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.  In 2009, her first feature film, Kissed by Lighting, premiered at Toronto's ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and won the Santa Fe Film Festival's 2009 Milagro Award for Best Indigenous Film. In 2012 she was the inaugural recipient of the Aboriginal Arts Award presented through the Ontario Arts Council. In 2017, Niro received the Governor General's Award for The Arts, The Scotiabank Photography Award, and the Hnatsyshyn Foundation Reveal Award. In 2022, Niro was presented with the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Niro is an honorary elder in the Indigenous Curatorial Collective. 

 

Niro's work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, USA; Institute of American Indian Arts, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM, USA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, USA; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN, USA; The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Toronto, ON, Canada; New York State Museum, Albany, NY, USA; Portrait Gallery of Canada, ON, Canada; Sámi Museum, RiddoDuottarMuseat, Norway; Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC, USA; and Washington State Library, Seattle, WA, USA; among others. 

 

Her work has been included in exhibitions throughout Canada, the US and internationally, including The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; The Art Gallery of Hamilton, ON, Canada; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; The Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN, USA; The Museum of Art and Design, NY, USA; The Taserliak Cultural Centre, Greenland; The Martin-Gropius Bau, Germany; The University of Foscari, Italy. 

 

Niro received a Diploma in Performing Arts, from Cambrian College, Sudbury, Ontario in 1972. She went on to gain an Honors Fine Arts Degree in painting and sculpture from the Ontario College of Art in 1990 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1997. In 2023 Niro received an honorary doctorate of Law from the University of Western Ontario.