Shelley Niro was born in Niagra Falls , New York , and is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk. She grew up on the Six Nations Reserve and is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, where she received an Honors Fine Arts degree in painting and sculpture. Storytelling through film and installation art, Shelley creates roles for Native women that give them a voice of strength and community. She has exhibited widely and her work often addresses questions of identity and how it is constructed by the self and others. She has recently completed an MFA at the University of Western Ontario and currently lives in Brantford , Ontario .