Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, author, and public speaker. His work has been seen in public spaces, museums, galleries and private collections across globe. Institutional collections include the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Humboldt Forum.

Yahgulanaas has a long history of environmental activism and political involvement. For many years he was an elected Chief Councillor of the Old Massett Village Council and a member of the Council of the Haida Nation.

Early life
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 and Charles Edenshaw.

As a child, Yahgulanaas was an avid comic book reader and cartoonist. A prolific young artist, he soon covered the walls and ceilings of his bedroom with drawings.

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.

Training
In 1978, Yahgulanaas began an apprenticeship with renowned Haida artist Robert Davidson. Yahgulanaas credits Davidson, as well as Haida master carver James Hart, in providing him with formal training in the classical forms of Haida art.

Haida manga
While Yahgulanaas trained under master carvers, his brief exposure to Chinese brush techniques with Cai Ben Kwan encouraged a departure from the typical expressions of the Haida art form and the development of a new genre of narrative art called "Haida manga."

Haida Manga blends Pacific Northwest Indigenous iconographies and framelines with the graphic dynamism of Asian manga. Haida Manga is committed to hybridity as a positive force that opens a third space for critical engagement. It offers an empowering and playful 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, 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.

Solo exhibitions

 * Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas -- Travelling the Museum, Museum of Anthropology, 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
 * Sding K'awXangs, McCord & Stewart Museums, 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
 * D'un océan à l'autre, cap sur la bande dessinée canadienne / 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, ISBN 9781771623537, (2023)
 * Carpe Fin: A Haida Manga, ISBN 9781771622240, (2019)
 * War of the Blink, ISBN 9780995994621, (2017)
 * Old Growth: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Liz Park, ed., ISBN 9781897476963, (2012)
 * The Canoe He Called Loo Taas (illustrator), ISBN 9780978255367, (2010)
 * The Little Hummingbird, ISBN 9781553655336 (2010)
 * The Declaration of Interdependence (illustrator), ISBN 9781553655466 (2010)
 * The Canoe He Called Loo Taas, ISBN 9780978255367, (2010)
 * Red: A Haida Manga, ISBN 9781553653530, (2009)
 * Flight of the Hummingbird: a parable for the environment, ISBN 9781553653721, (2008)
 * Hachidori (2005)
 * A Lousy Tale (2004)
 * The Last Voyage of the Black Ship, ISBN 9781895123159, (2001)
 * A Tale of Two Shamans, ISBN 9781894778015, (2001)
 * No Tankers, No T'anks (1977). Volume 1 of the Tales of Raven series.

Hachidori has sold over 100,000 copies in Japan, with a single-day record sale of 20,000 copies. Flight of the Hummingbird, first published in North America and now available in five languages, is also a bestseller and includes essays contributed by the Dalai Lama and Nobel Peace prize winner Wangari Maathai. Declaration of Interdependence, written by Dr. David Suzuki, was illustrated by Yahgulanaas.