Shelley Niro

Shelley Niro is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Brantford, Ontario. She is a member of the Six Nations Reserve, Bay of Quinte Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, Turtle Clan. Her practice consists of a range of media, including photography, beadwork, film, installation, and painting. Her work challenges the expectations and stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, often using friends and family as subjects in order to celebrate and highlight the resiliency and individuality of the Indigenous women surrounding her.

Her prolific and artistic legacy has been aptly recognized by many organizations across Canada and internationally. Shelley Niro debuted her video work The Shirt, at the Venice Biennale in 2003. In 2012, Shelley was the inaugural recipient of the Aboriginal Arts Award presented through the Ontario Arts Council. She was the winner of the 2017 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts and in the same year she recieved the Scotiabank Photography Award. In addition, as of March 2020 she has received the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award, bestowed annually by the Ontario Arts Foundation. Niro has also released and directed a number of critically-acclaimed feature length films, including Kissed by Lightning and The Incredible 25th Year of MITZI BEARCLAW.

In October of 2020, she participated in the inaugural digital exhibition hosted by the Embassy Cultural House, Hiding in Plain Sight. For more information and details on her work, please visit her website: http://shelleyniro.ca

Works by Shelley Niro

"Abnormally Aboriginal", 2014

"Cherry Picker"

"This Land", 1992 - Love Me Tender

"This Land", 1992 - Survivor

"La Pieta #1", 2007

"The Wild Ones and The Colonized", 2015

Shelley Niro on the Web

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The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.