A trip to Brantford reveals many things; besides being the home of our current artist in residence, Shelley Niro, it is also the birthplace of the hockey champion Wayne Gretzy. Streets and lanes and expressways are named after the Great White Wayne. He also has a few sporting venues named in his honor as well. Nothing is named after Ms. Niro, but we think there should be! Perhaps a strip-mall with a coffee bar that plays alterna-hip music and comfy sofas to lounge in. Maybe a digital print and film developing shop too?

Well it’d be about all humble ole Brantford could offer in her honor, small town that is it, but we’d certainly patronize both establishments. It also reveals a disconcerting lack of any good food unless you call pancakes food, in which case then, they have at least one item in their local cuisine that qualifies as good, but you’d do better if invited to Shelley’s house for dinner. Her husband is Italian and he likes to cook, enough said.

We chose her as our A.I.R because we loved her earlier photographic works as well as some thoughtful comments she made in past interviews regarding Native people in the 21st century and their representation as out of touch with mainstream culture. As we know, it’s simply not true, yet the belief persists. Proof enough for NAICA that work by artists such as Niro is necessary to remind us that there is no time like the present for mulling over the past, especially one that does not jibe with insider accounts of history, but also that there is humor in the banal cruelties of life.

Shelley was a gracious host who gamely posed for pictures, answered questions she’s probably been asked before, and gave us a driving tour around Brantford, and through her homeland, the Six Nations Reserve. She also made us some strong coffee-just the way we like it- now she is our very favorite person in the world; even superseding the Cherokilmer himself.

NAICA is honored to have a selection of her videos for your viewing pleasure:

Honey Moccasin, a short film starring Tantoo Cardinal, Billy Merasty, Paul Chaat Smith and members of her family and friends. Honey was one of her first forays into narrative filmmaking.

The Shirt is a short video that was created for the Venice Biennale as well as a photo installation that was shown at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City and is on view now at the Cambridge Gallery in Ontario until May 4th. The video features Navajo/Creek/Seminole photographer and educator Hulleah Tsinhahjinnie. She is shown wearing a series of tourist style t-shirts-the kind with black text on a white background that inevitably has a punch line. I won’t spoil it for you here. Check the video player to see for yourself.

Tree is an evocative treatise against warfare and environmental destruction. It was shot in black and white 35mm with a minimalist audio track. We saw this film on the big screen at the 2006 imagineNATIVE Media and Film Festival. Streaming it on the web seems ill-suited as it diminishes it’s aural and visual power but we’ll assume you have great pipes on your computer and a HD panel like we do. You need to see it. Go on-contemplate the world we now inhabit post 9/11, hell, post-conquesta-lonialism. Also check out the videoplayer for a short documentary of our visit with Shelley and the image gallery for a selection of her works and images from our trip.


NAICA would like to thank:
Shelley Niro for being a wonderful hostess as well as her husband Celestino; the Cambridge Galleries at Queen’s Square Cambridge, Ontario; and the Woodland Cultural Centre Museum, Brantford, Ontario.