Shelley Niro, Surrender Nothing Always
Shelley Niro
1954-
Bay of Quinte Mohawk
Date
2004
Medium Specific
Photograph, frontmount plexi
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
46 x 154 in. (116.8 x 391.2 cm)
Accession Number
2005.20.10.01
Credit
Museum Acquisition
Memo / Artist Statement
Art for me is treading into territory where you don’t necessarily know where you are going to end up. I like to think of photographs as sculpture. There has to be more to a photograph than just taking a picture. I want to see how far I can take an image.
Sometimes I can articulate a piece of artwork and say, This is what this means. You put it together and come up with an essay about what the work is supposed to represent. And sometimes I can’t come up with an essay, I just know that I want the work to be together.
In Surrender Nothing Always, I’ve included a turtle rattle and painting brushes. [The idea is about] using a body to deliver what you are capable of doing. And in this case, it is being creative, making a painting, or making something so that other people can see it. Some people think being an artist is an act of resistance, maybe protest, but it is something that we have to keep doing because it is like our calling. We have to make an opinion and get that opinion stated out there.
Sometimes I can articulate a piece of artwork and say, This is what this means. You put it together and come up with an essay about what the work is supposed to represent. And sometimes I can’t come up with an essay, I just know that I want the work to be together.
In Surrender Nothing Always, I’ve included a turtle rattle and painting brushes. [The idea is about] using a body to deliver what you are capable of doing. And in this case, it is being creative, making a painting, or making something so that other people can see it. Some people think being an artist is an act of resistance, maybe protest, but it is something that we have to keep doing because it is like our calling. We have to make an opinion and get that opinion stated out there.
Biography
Shelley Niro is a multi-diciplinary artist, and a member of the Six Nations Reserve, Turtle Clan, Bay of Quinte Mohawk. She has worked in a variety of media, including beadwork, painting, photography, and film. Her work challenges stereotypical images of Aboriginal peoples.
Niro was raised on the Six Nations Reserve near the town of Brantford, Ontario. Invention and creativity were rampant in her childhood home. With few entertainment options she and her brothers and sisters would work to amuse each other with storytelling, drawing, plays, and songs, with each performance being judged and critiqued. Later in her career Niro would use her family members in her artworks.
For Niro education is an ongoing process which began with a Diploma in the Performing Arts from Cambrian College, Sudbury Ontario (1972), followed with an Honours Fine Arts Degree in painting and sculpture from the Ontario College of Art, (1990) and a Master of Fine Arts form the University of Western Ontario in 1997. In the 2000's Niro's studies began to delve more deeply into the medium of film with programs at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Niro has received considerable attention for her work in film. Her short film The Shirt, was presented at the 2003 Venice Biennal as well as at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Niro was raised on the Six Nations Reserve near the town of Brantford, Ontario. Invention and creativity were rampant in her childhood home. With few entertainment options she and her brothers and sisters would work to amuse each other with storytelling, drawing, plays, and songs, with each performance being judged and critiqued. Later in her career Niro would use her family members in her artworks.
For Niro education is an ongoing process which began with a Diploma in the Performing Arts from Cambrian College, Sudbury Ontario (1972), followed with an Honours Fine Arts Degree in painting and sculpture from the Ontario College of Art, (1990) and a Master of Fine Arts form the University of Western Ontario in 1997. In the 2000's Niro's studies began to delve more deeply into the medium of film with programs at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Niro has received considerable attention for her work in film. Her short film The Shirt, was presented at the 2003 Venice Biennal as well as at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.