Shelley Niro, The Shirt, 2003 Virtual Museum of Canada
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In this series of photographs, the artist plays off the typical '...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' souvenir on offer in many tourist boutiques. By turning aboriginal peoples into souvenirs, the artist questions both stereotypes and souvenirs. In this image, an Aboriginal woman, arms folded, is wearing a white t-shirt stating 'The Shirt.' She wears a pair of sunglasses and a US flag bandana on her head. In the background is a view of the landscape.

Shelley Niro, The Shirt, 2003

Niro's work consists of a connecting series of photographs that should be read together as a whole narrative. The images are set in a pastoral landscape, and each subsequent photograph offers an increasingly incisive statement on the colonization of the land that once belonged to aboriginal peoples. The final photograph shows the model's t-shirt saying, "and all's I get is this t-shirt."

Shelly Niro was born in Niagara Falls, NY in 1954. She is a member of the Mohawk Nation, Iroquois Confederacy, Turtle Clan, Six Nations Reserve. She is currently based in Brantford, Ontario, and works in a variety of media, including beadwork, painting, photography, and film.


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Images in the Series: In this series of photographs, the artist plays off the typical '...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' souvenir on offer in many tourist boutiques. By turning aboriginal peoples into souvenirs, the artist questions both stereotypes and souvenirs. In this image, an Aboriginal woman, arms folded, is wearing a white t-shirt stating 'The Shirt.' She wears a pair of sunglasses and a US flag bandana on her head. In the background is a view of the landscape.In this second photograph in the series, the same Aboriginal woman is shown wearing a t-shirt stating 'My ancestors were annihilated exterminated murdered and massacred.'This third photographs shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'They were lied to cheated tricked and deceived.'This fourth photo shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'Attempts were made to assimilate colonize enslave and displace them.'This fifth photo shows the Aboriginal woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'And all's I get is this shirt.'This sixth photo shows the Aboriginal woman without a shirt, hands covering her breasts. The bandana and sunglasses she was wearing in the previous photos are also gone.This final photo in the series shows a White woman wearing a t-shirt stating 'And all's I get is this shirt' - the same shirt the Aboriginal woman was wearing in the previous images. She is also wearing the US Flag bandana around her neck, and the sunglasses on her head. This final image reveals the more sinister notion of tourist as conqueror.