In her video The T-Shirt, Mohawk artist and filmmaker Shelley Niro examines the history of European colonialism in North American from the perspective of First Nations people.The T-Shirt is a darkly ironic account, presented through the succinct medium of t-shirt texts.
In this video, Niro examines the lingering consequences of colonialism, alerting us to the ongoing cultural implications of Western globalization. The t-shirt represents that packaging and marketing of the tragic history of colonialism, and it’s absorption into the broader narratives of Western culture. Through her work, Niro presents identity as a fluid and complex state that is affected by tradition, family history, and mass culture.
