Honorary Degree Recipient: Shelley Niro

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Doctor of Letters | Presented on June 4, 10 a.m.

Chancellor Mercier, President and Vice-Chancellor McLatchy, faculty, graduates, and guests: It gives me great pleasure to present to you a multi-disciplinary artist of international import and acclaim, Shelley Niro.

A Bay of Quinte Mohawk and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Turtle Clan, Shelley was born in Niagara Falls, New York, raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and has resided for many years here in Brantford.

Shelley was brought up in a family of creatives. Her formal arts education began with the study of visual and performing arts at college during the 1970s. In 1990 she graduated from the Ontario College of Art with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and sculpture. She went on to earn her Master’s in Fine Art at Western University in 1997 and in 2000 studied film at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

A true multi-media artist, Shelley uses painting, photography, sculpting, beadwork, film, and video to craft images and stories to reach her audiences.

In her fifty-plus years as an artist, Shelley has challenged the stereotypes and cliches of Indigenous women in North America; defied expectations of what “Indigenous art” is or should be; and continually broken down barriers, offering a distinctly contemporary Indigenous voice and perspective.

Shelley has made important contributions to the critiquing of colonialism and explores the enduring impacts of generational trauma. She lures viewers into these weighty and important topics in ways that have been described as humorous and accessible. It has been said that she tempers hard truths with playfulness, complexity, and wit, leveraging the healing power of art and laughter to engage and provoke her audience; to make us think, feel, respond, and reflect in lasting and impactful ways.

Shelley has received more than 20 national and international awards for her work as an artist and filmmaker. She was the inaugural recipient of the Aboriginal Arts Award, received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, the Scotiabank Photography Award, and the Hnatsyshyn Foundation Reveal Award. She was named an honorary Elder in the Indigenous Curatorial Collective and was the laureate of the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Photography.

Shelley’s work has been shown in galleries and cinemas across North America. Recently, “Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch,” a retrospective of her career, debuted at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Until recently the collection was on display at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and it will be on exhibit throughout the summer at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

An accomplished filmmaker, Shelley recently released a feature film titled Café Daughter, which tells the story of a nine-year-old girl of Cree and Chinese ancestry struggling to find her place in a small Saskatchewan community. The story was inspired by the life and experiences of neuroscientist and former senator Lillian Dyck and the film won the ImagineNative audience award.

In reflecting on her life and work, Shelley once said, “In my art, I like to think that the end product is one of joy.”

Madame Chancellor, under the instruction of the Senate of the university and with joy I request you to admit to the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Shelley Niro.