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Shelley Niro was born in Niagara Falls, New York. Shelley is a member of the Turtle Clan, Bay of Quinte Mohawk Six Nations Grand River Reserve.
Niro is a practising artist, concentrating on painting, photography, and film. In 2017 Niro was awarded the Canada Council for the Arts’ Governor General’s Award in Visual Art, the Reveal Award from the Hnatyshyn Foundation, Dreamcatcher’s Visual Award, and the Scotiabank Photography Award. She also became an honorary Elder in the Indigenous Curatorial Collective.
Niro has received an honorary doctorate from the Ontario College of Art and Design University. In 2020 Niro was presented with the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation. In June 2023 Shelley Niro received an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Western Ontario and recently Niro received an honorary doctorate of Letters from Wilfred Laurier University Brantford.
Official Selection
Feature Films
Festival Year2022
Kissed by Lightning
Director, Producer, Writer
2019
The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw
Director, Producer, Writer
2011
Robert's Paintings
Director, Producer, Writer
2009
Kissed by Lightning
Director, Producer, Writer
2009
Honey Moccasin
Director, Producer, Writer
2 minute excerpt, A Decade in Retrospect: Curated by Dana Claxton.
2005
Suite: INDIAN
Director, Producer, Writer
Short Films
Festival Year2020
Tekahionwake (Double Wampum)
Director, Producer, Writer
2015
Niagara
Director, Producer, Writer
2010
Living with Fire/ From the Ashes
Director, Producer, Writer
2008
Hunger
Director, Producer, Writer
Part of Into the Looking Glass: Experimental Shorts Program.
2008
The Flying Head
Director, Producer, Writer
Part of The Witching Hour Program.
2007
Rechargin'
Director, Producer, Writer
2006
Tree
Director, Producer, Writer
Part of This Is Not Your Reality: Experimental Shorts Program.
2003
The Shirt
Director, Producer, Writer
2002
Now Is The Time… : 3 Women Curators: Shelley Niro Program
Curator
Program featuring six short films.
1999
Overweight with Crooked Teeth
Director, Producer, Writer
1999
It Starts with a Whisper
Director, Producer, Writer
Video
Festival Year2020
Tekahionwake video introduction
Presenter
Exhibitions
Festival Year2022
Calling Through the Trees
Artist
2011
M: Stories of Women
Artist
Part of the Art Crawl.
Year-Round Programming
2025
Artist Spotlight Directory Retrospective Streaming | Honey Moccasin
Director, Producer, Writer
A month-long free online streaming presentation, celebrating the launch of the Artist Spotlight Directory.
2020
Tour Program | The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw
Director, Producer, Writer
Events
2020
Short Film Program: WHITE Q & A
Panelist
Livestream event.
2019
Art Creates Change
Speaker
Presented in collaboration with OCAD University, INVC OCAD, and imagineNATIVE.
2019
From the Reel to the Digital
Panelist
Institute Participation
2016
European Film Market | Niagara
Director, Producer, Writer
