Shelley Niro: A Good, Long Look

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Shelley Niro, "In Her Lifetime (Detail)," 1990

Shelley Niro: A Good, Long Look

Two evenings of movies under the stars, complementing the exhibition, A Good, Long Look by Shelley Niro. This event will be taking place in lots 7 and 6A, Brandon University, They are located to the west of 20th Street, between Princess and Louise Avenues.

On Friday, August 13 at 8:30 PM, the AGSM and BU will present Niro’s most recent film, The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw (2019; 1 hour, 36 minutes). This movie centers on MitziBearclaw, an emerging fashion designer living in Toronto. When she receives news that her mother is ill, she moves back to her isolated reservation on Owl Island, B.C. Over the span of one year, she reconnects with her parents, reignites a relationship with an old flame, and faces old enemies. The film follows Mitzi’s year month-by-month, shifting between the mundane and dream spaces, in which she connects with guides and spirits.

Saturday, August 14 at 8:30 PM features Kissed by Lightning (2009; 1 hour, 29 minutes), which follows painter Mavis Dogblood on a road trip that takes her from her home on a small southern Ontario reserve to a New York City gallery where she is having a solo exhibition. Haunted by the death of her late husband Jessie Lightning, Mavis’ journey follows that of Tekanawí:ta[Peacemaker] and Aienwátha over 800 years ago. This film is a lovingly crafted study of how one works through grief, one of the central themes of Haudenosaunee history and culture. Discretion is advised (cigarette smoking, implications of sex).

Spanning decades of Niro’s career, the exhibited photographs, paintings, and sketches comprise a reconstruction of histories, moving easily from the past of decades to the past of millenia. In each object, Niro probes the life and intention that went into its making. A member of the Turtle Clan, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, Niro is perhaps best known for her photographic portraiture, often featuring members of her family and friends in lieu of models. Her short film, The Shirt, was included in the Canadian Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale, and her work can be found in permanent collections across Canada. She won the Governor General’s Award for Visual Arts in 2017.

The exhibition blends family histories, social histories, and natural histories into a single meta-narrative, championing unity and nationalism by borrowing from other iconographies, particularly in the work History of the World, which Brandon residents will recognize for its use of the Lakota colours of the four directions (red, yellow, white, and black). Other highlights are a work from 1990 that was reprinted this year, a prescient six-panel story called In Her Lifetime that features Niro’s sister, as well as a triptych and two paintings inspired by a vintage photograph of her mother. With the support of the Ontario Arts Council, Niro also painted nine works on mylar especially for this exhibition at the AGSM, which will be hung in the lobby windows of the Main Gallery.

A Good, Long Look will open with a virtual reception on Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 7:30 PM CT, and a guided tour with the artist on Friday. June 11 at 1:00 PM CT. Subsequent public events will be announced via the Gallery’s social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and weekly newsletter. Our Covid protocols and opening hours are updated as they change at agsm.ca/content/faq-covid-19.