Jaj
With gorgeous imagery, visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West Coast.
Yahgulanaas uses a blend of traditional and modern art, eschewing the traditional boxes of comic books for the flowing shapes of North Pacific iconography. The panels are filled with colourful and expressive watercolour paintings. The panels of each page, if removed and assembled into one whole image, form a large image reminiscent of a woven robe.
The story follows several historical figures, including Johan Adrian Jacobsen (JAJ), who comes to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum, through a time span that includes first contact, the devastation of the smallpox epidemic, and the mass resettlement of disenfranchised peoples, both Indigenous and European.
“This book is a necessary tale told by the perfect voice at the right time. It also uses graphic imagery in a way I've not seen before, and it feels ground-breaking.” –Douglas Coupland
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, storyteller and public speaker. Raised on Haida Gwaii, he melds cultural hybridity and his political experiences as an Indigenous person with contemporary graphic literature to produce a unique genre called Haida Manga. His books include Flight of the Hummingbird (Greystone, 2008), A Tale of Two Shamans (Theytus, 2001) and Red (Douglas & McIntyre, 2009).
Yahgulanaas challenges native stereotypes through illustrative story telling. His artwork is informed by many years of dedication to public service and political activism, mostly on behalf of the Haida. Yahgulanaas creates pop-graphic narratives that riff on traditional Haida stories and painting techniques. A trickster-like sense of humour contributes to his work's appeal.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas has exhibited in several major galleries, including the Bill Reid Gallery, the McMichael Gallery, the Museum of Anthropology, the Glenbow Museum, and the National Arts Center in Ottawa. His Haida Anime "Flight of the Hummingbird" is featured on YouTube. For the past two decades, besides developing his unique visual style, Yahgulanaas has spent most of his time working with other Haida people to prevent their homeland, Haida Gwaii, from being logged. Yahgulanaas lives with his wife and daughter on Bowen Island, British Columbia - close to the Two Sisters Mountain in the Salish Sea.
