Spanning four decades of photography, film, painting, installation, sculpture and mixed-media practice, this major exhibition highlights the themes Niro constantly returns to: Past Is Present, Matriarchy, Actors, and Family Relations.

Niro’s 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 features more than 70 works, some in series (totalling 136 pieces) coming from public and private collections across Canada and the US. It also includes close to 20 artworks from the National Gallery of Canada’s collection.

Tags:   Shelley Niro National Gallery of Canada

© All Rights Reserved

Spanning four decades of photography, film, painting, installation, sculpture and mixed-media practice, this major exhibition highlights the themes Niro constantly returns to: Past Is Present, Matriarchy, Actors, and Family Relations.

Niro’s 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 features more than 70 works, some in series (totalling 136 pieces) coming from public and private collections across Canada and the US. It also includes close to 20 artworks from the National Gallery of Canada’s collection.

Tags:   Shelley Niro National Gallery of Canada

© All Rights Reserved

Born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1954, Shelley Niro is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory. Her artworks have been featured across Canada and internationally. In 2009, her first feature film, Kissed by Lightning, premiered at Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and won the Santa Fe Film Festival’s 2009 Milagro Award for Best Indigenous Film. Her short film The Shirt was presented at the 2003 Venice Biennale and the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Films include: Honey Moccasin, It Starts with a Whisper, The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw and a feature film released in 2023, Café Daughter.

In 2019, Niro received an honorary doctorate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, where she completed her undergraduate studies; she was also the 2019 Laureate of the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Photography. In 2017, Niro received both the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and the Scotiabank Photography Award, two preeminent contemporary art awards in Canada. In 2017, Niro also received the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Artist Award, and the Arts and Culture Award from the Dreamcatcher Charitable Foundation. She was the inaugural recipient of the Aboriginal Arts Award presented through the Ontario Arts Council in 2012. She completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario.

Tags:   National Gallery of Canada Shelley Niro exhibition

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   Shelley Niro National Gallery of Canada

© All Rights Reserved

Niro paints her only grandchild, Raven. Seated resolutely among powerful symbols, such as the moon (Grandmother Moon, a protector and guardian of Turtle Island) and corn (a symbol of Haudenosaunee sustenance). Wearing an aviator cap – a subtle nod to Sky Woman – she is posed to take on the world as an enduring figure of hope for the future of matriarchal Haudenosaunee culture.

Tags:   Shelley Niro National Gallery of Canada

© All Rights Reserved