Shelley Niro facts for kids

Shelley Niro RCA (born in 1954) is a talented Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte filmmaker and visual artist. She comes from New York and Ontario, Canada. Niro is famous for her photographs. She often uses herself and her female family members in her art. Her goal is to challenge old ideas and stereotypes about Native American women.

Shelley Niro is a modern artist who works in many different ways. She is skilled in photography, painting, sculpting, beadwork, and making independent films. She is a member of the Turtle clan of the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk Nation) from Six Nations of the Grand River.

Early Life and Education

Shelley Niro was born in Niagara Falls, New York. She grew up on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Canada, near Brantford, Ontario.

Her home life encouraged creativity. She often entertained her siblings with songs, stories, and drawings. Her family greatly influenced her art, and many of them later appeared in her works. Shelley Niro started her artistic journey by earning a diploma in performing arts from Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1972.

In 1990, she received a fine arts degree in painting and sculpture from the Ontario College of Art. Niro continued her studies and earned a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1997. In 2000, she attended the Banff Centre for the Arts to learn about filmmaking.

Art Career and Style

Shelley Niro has explored the oral history of the Haudenosaunee people. She also focuses on the story of Mohawk people who have moved away from their traditional lands. She is well-known for her photography. Her photos often mix portraits of living Native women with traditional Mohawk images. She uses herself, her friends, and family members as models.

Her photo series from 1992, This Land Is Mime Land and 500 Year Itch, use funny references from pop culture. For example, she includes images inspired by Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Niro often creates art in pairs (diptychs) or groups of three (triptychs). She uses different photo techniques like photo montage, hand-tinting, and sepia tones.

Challenging Stereotypes

Shelley Niro is sometimes compared to artist Cindy Sherman. Both artists play different roles in their work to break down stereotypes. However, Niro never completely hides who she is. She wants viewers to recognize her in her various characters.

As her skills grew, Niro started featuring her family members in her art. Her piece Time Travels Through Us shows her mother and two sisters. This work represents the social, cultural, and personal values passed down through generations. The colors purple and silver in her art refer to Iroquois culture and beauty. A turtle often appears in her work, representing her spirit animal and her membership in the Turtle Clan.

Themes in Her Art

Most of Niro's art is conceptual. This means it explores ideas and feelings. She often touches on themes like gender inequality, cultural appropriation (taking elements from another culture without understanding or respecting them), and the importance of cultural influences. She uses different art forms to help her audience understand her point of view.

Even though her art deals with serious topics like cultural loss and unfair treatment, some of Niro's pieces use humor and satire. She uses jokes and playful mockery as a way to resist and show how people misunderstand her culture. She also pokes fun at old, outdated stereotypes.

In 2023, a special exhibition of Niro's work called Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch was shown. It traveled to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. This exhibition looked back at her career and included her newest film, Café Daughter.

Selected Exhibitions

Shelley Niro's art has been shown in many places.

Group Exhibitions

• 1999: Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life, McCord Museum, Montreal, Quebec
• 2019: Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
• 2022: Radical Stitch, MacKenzie Art Gallery

Solo Exhibitions

• Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch was put together by the Art Gallery of Hamilton. It traveled with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) also helped with the exhibition.

Film and Video Works

Shelley Niro has directed and produced several films and videos:

• It Starts with a Whisper (1993)
• Overweight with Crooked Teeth (1997)
• Honey Moccasin (1998), starring Tantoo Cardinal
• The Shirt (2003), starring Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie
• The Flying Head (2008)
• Kissed by Lightning (2009)
• The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw (2019)
• Café Daughter (2023)

Awards and Recognition

Shelley Niro has received many awards for her amazing work.

In 1997, the National Museum of American History named Niro a fellow. She won the Walking in Beauty Award for her 1992 film It Starts With a Whisper. Her film Honey Moccasin won "Best Experimental Work" at the Dreamspeakers Festival in Edmonton, Alberta. It also won "Best Feature," "Best Actress," "Best Actor," and "Best Director" at the Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

She became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Her short film The Shirt was shown at the 2003 Venice Biennale and the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. In 2017, Niro received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Niro's art has been shown in many exhibitions and museums across Canada and the United States. This includes the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Her artistic achievements have also earned her special opportunities like fellowships and residencies at major schools and cultural places. She was even a "Guest Selector" for the NMAI's "Native American Film + Video Festival."

In 2009, Niro received the "Milagro Award for Best Indigenous Film" for Kissed by Lightning at the Santa Fe Film Festival. She won the Scotiabank Photography Award in 2017. In 2020, she was given the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Art Photography. This award recognized her outstanding work in photography.

Quotations

Shelley Niro has shared her thoughts on identity:

"Some people think that to be Indian, you have to do certain things, but I'm saying that you're Indian no matter what you do, but you have to decide what you want to do and you have to ask questions, like, am I doing something because it's expected of me to do, or am I doing it because I really believe this and it's really a part of me. So I'm always questioning that, saying, "Am I being truthful to myself? How much a part of what I do is part of my psychology?" —Shelley Niro

Personal Life

Shelley Niro currently lives in Brantford, Ontario, with her husband.

See also

In Spanish: Shelley Niro para niños