Shelley Niro

A n I n t r o d u c t i o n t o
C o n t e m p o r a r y N a t i v e A r t i s t s i n C a n a d a

S h e l l e y N i r o

b. 1954, Niagara Falls, New York
First Nations Affiliation: Mohawk

Teacher, photographer, painter, and filmmaker Shelley Niro trained in Durham College's Graphics Programme in Oshawa, Ontario (1978) and at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. Her work is consistently innovative, both in terms of its use of the photographic medium (hand-tinting, matte boards, and diptychs or triptychs) and its critical re-presentation of stereotypical images of First Nations people in general, and women in particular. Frequently utilizing strategies of masquerade, parody and appropriation, with herself or family members and friends as models, Niro's work is significant for its subversion and re-creation of new identities and images in counterpoint to the long and damaging history of white representation of Native peoples.

R E C E N T E X H I B I T I O N S

1998-99	Reservation X. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec Shelley Niro. Indian Art Centre, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
1998	Painting Up a Storm. A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1997-98	Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art (travelling)
1996	Shelley Niro: Indian by Design. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario; Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario No Threads. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Looking Through the Glass Floor. Dowd Fine Art Gallery, Cortland, New York AlterNative. Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario
1995	Native Love. Nation to Nation, Montréal, Québec First Nations Art '95. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario AlterNative. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario As If in A Dream. Théâtre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Ontario Nations in Urban Landscapes. Oboro, Montréal, Québec; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Dialogo. Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, Ontario
1994	Spiritual Currents. Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Riverworks. Library and Art Gallery, Cambridge, Ontario The Female Imaginary. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario Sense of Self. London Regional Art and Historical Museums, London, Ontario From Icebergs to Iced Tea. Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario; Carleton University Art Gallery , Ottawa, Ontario First Nations Art '94. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario Dialogo. Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie, Ontario; Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, Ontario
1993	Contemporary Native Photography. Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario First Nations Art '93. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario Cultural Contrasts. Stamford Museum and Mature Center, Stamford, Connecticut Defining Our Realities: Native American Women Photographers. Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle, Washington Contemporary Camera. Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Mohawks in Beehives + Other Works. Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
1992	Changers: A Spiritual Renaissance. Dalhousie Art Gallery, Nova Scotia (travelling) First Nations Art '92. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario River of Blood Flows On. A Space Gallery, and Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario (De)Celebration. Ufundi Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario Sacrifices and Blessings, and Out of Tune. Niroquios Gallery, Brantford, Ontario By a Lady. Women’s Art Resource Centre, Toronto, Ontario This Land is Mime Land. Ufundi Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario Mohawks in Beehives + Other Works. Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, Ontario Sitting with a Killer. Native Indian and Inuit Photographers' Association (NIIPA), Hamilton, Ontario; Harbourfront Film and Video Festival, Toronto, Ontario
1991	Mohawks in Beehives + Other Works. Ufundi Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario First Nations Art '91. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario Portrait of a Living Room. Glenhurst Art Gallery, Brantford, Ontario This Land is Mime Land. Ufundi Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario Through an Eagle's Eye. Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, Ontario This is Not a Landscape. Niroquois Gallery, Brantford, Ontario Tales of Spring. Niroquois Gallery, Brantford, Ontario
1990	OCA Anishnabec '90. Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Ontario Telling Pictures. Kingston Artists' Association Inc., Kingston, Ontario Look '90. Sarnia Public Library and Art Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario

S E L E C T E D C O L L E C T I O N S

Art Gallery of Peel, Brampton, Ontario
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario
Castellani Museum, Niagara Falls, New York
City of North Bay, Ontario
Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Ace, Barry, and July Papatsie. Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art. Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1997.

Allen, Jan. The Female Imaginary. Kingston, Ontario: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1994.

Clark, Janet. Shelley Niro: Indian by Design. Kingston, Ontario: Agnes Etherington Art Centre; Thunder Bay, Ontario: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1996.

Crosby, Marcia and Paul Chaat Smith. Nations in Urban Landscapes. Vancouver, British Columbia: Contemporary Art Gallery, 1997.

Harlan, Theresa. Watchful Eyes: Native American Women Artists. Phoenix, Arizona: The Heard Museum, 1994.

Henry, Victoria, and Shelley Niro. From Icebergs to Iced Tea. Thunder Bay, Ontario: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University Art Gallery, 1994.

Hill, Lynn A. AlterNative: Contemporary Photo Compositions. Kleinburg, Ontario: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1995.

Jordan, Betty Ann. "Fast forward." Canadian Art 13. no. 1 (1996): 21.

Khan, Nazeer, Damarys Sepulveda, Penelope McCabe, et al. The River of Blood Flows On: An Inter-Disciplinary Collaboration. Toronto, Ontario: A Space; Red Tree Collective, 1992.

MacKay, Marilyn. "Changers: A spiritual renaissance." ARTSatlantic 11, no. 2 (Winter 1992): 34-36.

Maskegon-Iskwew, Ahasiw. "Native love: Subverting the boundaries of the heart." FUSE Magazine 19, no. 4 (Summer 1996): 24-33.

McMaster, Gerald and Arthur Renwick. Reservation X: The Power of Place in Aboriginal Contemporary Art. Hull, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1998.

"Nations in urban landscapes." Parachute 84 (October/November/December 1996): 64. [Review: Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia]

Patten, James. Shelley Niro: Sense of Self. London, Ontario: London Regional Art and Historical Museums, 1994.

Podedworny, Carol and Shelley Niro. Shelley Niro: Mohawks in Beehives + Other Works. Toronto, Ontario: Mercer Union, 1992.

Ryan, Allan. "I enjoy being a Mohawk girl: The cool and comic character of Shelley Niro's photography." American Indian Art Magazine 20, no. 1 (Winter 1994): 44-53.

Skoda, Jennifer. "Image and self in contemporary Native American photoart." American Indian Art Magazine 21, no. 2 (Spring 1996): 48-58.

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