Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas was born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia in 1954 and grew up alongside Delkatla, near the fishing village of Masset on Haida Gwaii, off the north coast of British Columbia. He is a descendant of the influential Haida artists, Isabella Edenshaw, Charles Edenshaw and Delores Churchill As a young artist, he covered the walls and ceilings of his bedroom with drawings. He is the eldest grandson of 7laanaas Auu Gala, Oliver Adams who was the Hereditary Chief of Massett. The presence and status of the Arts in this community were important influences. At age 22, he began to direct his artistic endeavors outward, to effect change in the community and in relation to broader movements of environmental activism. ==Art career==

Training In 1978, Yahgulanaas began his formal training in the classical forms of Haida art; Yahgulanaas became a full-time artist after several decades working to protect the biocultural diversity of Haida Gwaii. Haida Manga blends Pacific Northwest Indigenous iconographies and framelines with the graphic dynamism of Asian manga. Haida Manga is committed to hybridity as a force that opens a third space for critical engagement. It offers a way of viewing and engaging with social issues as it seeks participation, dialogue, reflection, and action. Sculpture Yahgulanaas's works in metal include commissions from the British Museum (2010), The City of Vancouver (2011) and the 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee. In 2015, his sculpture Sei, a 12 ton stainless sculpture depicting a sei whale, was unveiled at the Vancouver International Airport. In January 2016, his sculpture Yelthadaas from the Coppers From the Hood series joined the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This work was put on display in 2017. The piece hangs in Gallery 399, between the Modern and Contemporary Art wing and the Rockefeller Wing, where contemporary art borders Indigenous art. == Selected exhibitions ==

Solo exhibitions • ‘’ Diaries after a Flood’’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada, 2024 • Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas -- Traveling the Museum, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2007 • Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2009 • Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and Edward Burtynsky, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2009 • Emily Carr and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Masters Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2013 • Old Growth, grunt gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2013 • The Seriousness of Play, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2016 • A Tale of Two Shamans, Haida Gwaii, Canada, 2018 • Making Mischief, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada, 2021 • New Works, Madrona Gallery, Victoria, Canada, 2022 Group exhibitions • Skung Gwaii Robe, Haida Gwaii Museum at Qay'llnagaay, Haida Gwaii, Canada, 2002 • Raven Travelling, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2006 • What Use Art History?, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton, BC, Canada, 2008 • Challenging Traditions, Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, BC, Canada, 2010 • Visions of British Columbia: A Landscape Manual, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2010 • Haida Made: New Collaborations in Design, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2010 • Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2010 • Beat Nation, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2012 • Tokyo Design Week, Milan, Italy, 2015 • '''', McCord Stewart Museum, Montreal, Canada, 2019 • Comic Sans, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, 2022 • Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York City, USA, 2023 • Two Squares Equal One with Thomas Seligman at 35 Barlett, San Francisco, 2023 • New Terrains: Contemporary Native American Art, Phillips, New York City, USA • / From Coast to Coast, Canadian Comics on the Move, Angoulême International Comics Festival, Angoulême, France, 2024 • XIÁM, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2024 ==Published works==

• JAJ: a Haida Manga, , (2023) • Carpe Fin: A Haida Manga, , (2019) • War of the Blink, , (2017) • Old Growth: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Liz Park, ed., , (2012) • The Canoe He Called Loo Taas (illustrator), , (2010) • The Little Hummingbird, (2010) • The Declaration of Interdependence (illustrator), (2010) • The Canoe He Called Loo Taas, , (2010) • Red: A Haida Manga, , (2009) • Flight of the Hummingbird: a parable for the environment, , (2008) • Hachidori (2005) • A Lousy Tale (2004) • The Last Voyage of the Black Ship, , (2001) • A Tale of Two Shamans, , (2001) • ''No Tankers, No T'anks (1977). Volume 1 of the Tales of Raven'' series.. Two Canadian Opera companies commissioned Yahgulanaas to write a libretto based on his book Flight of the Hummingbirdhttps://pacificopera.ca/the-flight-of-the-hummingbird/. In celebration of the potency of diversity which is a critical element in Yahgulanaas oeuvre, powerful new music was created by Maxime Goulet https://maximegoulet.com/fr/. JAJ: A Haida Manga was shortlisted for the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes in 2024. ==References==