GO: Artist Shelley Niro takes pride in being ‘abnormally Aboriginal’
First Nations artist turns stereotypes on their head
Perhaps you’ve been wondering who belongs to the face that has been adorning the wall of 118 James N. for the past month or so.
At more than eight metres tall and seven metres wide, it’s hard to miss if you’re looking north on James from Wilson.
It’s the face of a fairly average middle-aged woman, wearing a deadpan expression above a black T-shirt that wryly proclaims “abnormally Aboriginal.” The contrast between face and shirt is striking.
The face belongs to Shelley Niro, an internationally known Six Nations artist, who has an exhibition opening at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Friday. She also owns the shirt.
It’s been a big year for Niro. In May, she was awarded the $50,000 Scotiabank Photography Award. Three months earlier she took home the $25,000 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Her work has been displayed in the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum.
You may be thinking that the “abnormally Aboriginal” mural is a teasing advertisement for Niro’s upcoming exhibition, but you’d only be partially correct. It’s actually part of the exhibition. And you might as well get used to it. It’s going be on that wall until next September.
So we called Niro at her Brantford home to find out the meaning of “abnormally Aboriginal.” She had just returned from “grandparent’s day” at the school of her nine-year-old granddaughter Raven. A couple of days earlier she was in Charlottesville, Va., finishing up a two-week artist-in-residence stint at the University of Virginia.
Niro enjoys turning stereotypes on their head. It’s a common theme in her work, no less so in “abnormally Aboriginal.”
“It goes back to the time when we were called Indians, which we all lived with for many years,” she explains. “Then it went from ‘Indian’ to ‘Indigenous’ to ‘First Nations,’ I forget what other names they put us under. But Aboriginal became the one that got a lot of people protesting. So it’s just me protesting that name that we’re supposed to live under until the next name comes along.”
“Somebody is dropping a name on us. We’re being labelled. It’s convenient to put us all in the same box, the ‘Aboriginal’ box.”
Niro knows precisely who she is. She is Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”), Iroquois, Mohawk, Turtle Clan, a grandmother and an artist, a talented and extraordinarily versatile one.
Among other things, Niro works in photography, sculpture, painting and video. She has even written, directed and produced a feature-length drama “Kissed by Lightning,” which will be shown Thursday, Oct. 19, at the AGH
as part of the AGH’s World Film Festival, along with an opening reception for her exhibition.
The name of Niro’s AGH exhibition is “1779,” the year 5,000 Haudenosaunee fled for their lives from revolutionary America across the border through Niagara, eventually settling on the 950,000 acres of the Haldimand Tract (only 48,000 acres remain).
They had fought loyally for the British Crown. In return, revolutionary commander George Washington ordered their destruction.
Niro admits that the title “1779,” came about partly in reaction to the celebrations marking Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation. The year 1779, she says, is as significant a date to the Iroquois as 1867 is to Canada.
“You can’t just start at 150, it goes beyond the 150,” Niro says. “We like to think that if it wasn’t for the Iroquois people there wouldn’t be any Canada 150. That goes right back to the American Revolution when we sided with the British. People forget … in 1779 they were fleeing for their lives.”
Niagara is much more than just an escape route for the Haudenosaunee. It has always been a deeply spiritual place. For Niro, it also has personal significance. She was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and the falls is a recurring theme in her work.
“It’s a place that is considered sacred,” Niro says. “It was a place where people came for ceremonies, but I don’t think anyone lived there. It was too powerful. Now you go there and the last thing you think about is spirituality. There is power there but it is a different kind of power.”
In a video installation called “My Heart,” Niro films a group of native children dressed (including her granddaughter Raven) in traditional garb trekking through the bush near Niagara as their ancestors did in 1779. The video, Niro says, portrays both the Haudenosaunee past and future.
In another installation, a sparkly stiletto-healed shoe sits atop a round video screen showing the movement of the Niagara whirlpool. Strands of intricate beadwork flow out of the top of the shoe, mimicking the falls.
“I bought those shoes at least 17 years ago, although I don’t know who would fit them, they’re like a size five,” she says. “To me, they’re like Niagara Falls is now, sparkly and sleazy.”
A series of four life-size woodcut prints called “Resting with Warriors” are also part of the exhibition and hold a distinctly Hamilton history.
Originally the prints — portraying native women in themes of emotion, strength, intellect and spirit — were purchased by the Hamilton Golf and Country Club where they were displayed for several years.
In 2014, however, the prints were taken down from the walls, sparking a controversy over the motivation behind the removal. At the time, the club explained that building renovations made it necessary.
“It felt really embarrassing and kind of insulting,” Niro said about the golf club’s decision.
Recently the AGH decided to purchase the prints and they’re inclusion in “1779” marks their first public showing since they were removed from the club.
“I’m so happy the gallery got them,” Niro says.