In the modern world we see acts of culture appropriation. Most of the time we witness it in aboriginal lives. We wear their uniforms as costumes when they are personal, spiritual, and it’s their beliefs. Headdresses are not a costume to wear at a Halloween party, or an accessory to show off to other people, it’s a way to honor people that have honored their tribes and have done good deeds. Cultures should be shared and listened to, but people have to respect the cultures rules and traditions and not used as jokes or fashion.
The Shirt by Shelly Niro is a multi-disciplinary artist, and a member of the Six Nations Reserve Turtle Clan, Bay of the Quinte Mohawk comments on the role of colonialism and “stripping” of Aboriginal people’s land. Niro was raised on the Six Nations Reserve near the town of Brantford, Ontario. Creativity was always there through out her childhood. With not much entertainment options she, her brothers, and sisters would work to amuse each other with storytelling, drawing, plays, and songs. Later in her art career she would use her parents in her art work. Niro’s works are revolved around serious issues but she occasionally inserts humor into some of her pieces such as Overweight with Crooked Teeth.
In her 2003 art piece The Shirt it depicts a supposed native woman with a white shirt on.
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In her art work The Shirt, the aboriginal woman’s shirt says “My ancestors were annihilated, exterminated, murdered and massacred.” This could refer to the British when they first invaded and stole their land or destroyed. In the 20th century they would remove their children from their parents and give them to white families or placing them in mission schools to “erase” their Aboriginal blood, culture and language. In Niro’s The Shirt, she has written on the shit “Attempts were made to assimilate, colonize, enslave and displace them” this could refer to the incident in the 20th century when they took away their