Shelley Niro, Raven's World, 2015
Hales is delighted to announce that Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch is now on view at Remai Modern, through 21 September 2025. Remai Modern is the final stop on a five-venue international tour of this exhibition.
Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch is the first major retrospective exhibition of the multi-media work of Mohawk artist Shelley Niro, who is based in Brantford, ON. Spanning four decades of her photography, film, painting, installation, sculpture and mixed media practice, the exhibition highlights themes she constantly returns to: Matriarchy, Past is Present, Actors, and Family Relations. Her persistent vision is to represent Indigenous women and girls, advocating for self-representation and sovereignty. Her highly empathetic approach moves viewers to understand the issues at hand through her visually impactful and politically powerful manner. She uses parody, feminism, and spirituality to examine identity, and in turn, brings political power to the realm of the personal.
The exhibition is accompanied by a heavily illustrated 304-page publication designed by Barr Gilmore, including texts by invited authors, in addition to curatorial essays by Lori Beavis, Sally Frater, Adrianna Greci Green, Bryce Kanbara, Madeline Lennon, Nancy Mithlo, and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie.
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 (NMAI), with curatorial support from the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). Co-curated by Melissa Bennett, AGH Senior Curator of Contemporary Art; Greg Hill, Independent Curator, formerly Audain Senior Curator, Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, and David Penney, Associate Director of Museum Scholarship at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Remai Modern's presentation is organized by Sally Frater, Senior Curator and Curatorial Manager.
Click here for the Remai Modern website.
April 23, 2025
