Portraits by some of Canada's most celebrated aboriginal artists are on display in a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada.

"Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists," on until March 2009, includes works by Carl Beam, Dana Claxton, Rosalie Favell, Kent Monkman, Shelley Niro, Arthur Renwick, Greg Staats and Jeff Thomas, among others.

The exhibition explores how contemporary aboriginal artists have used the portrait as a means of self-expression despite "its long problematic history for their peoples," said a release.

"The portrait is a European convention which exerts control over the subject," said co-curator Andrea Kunard of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, which is undergoing renovation and is staging the exhibition at the National Gallery.

"In the past, aboriginal people were often objectified for commercial purposes. They were represented as a dying race doomed by the inexorable march of 'civilization.' Contrary to this portrayal, they have neither vanished nor died out; they survived."

There are over 50 portraits in the exhibition drawn from the collections of the photography museum and the National Gallery, as well as private collections.