(Webcast of Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ reading on September 30, 2010)
Through illustrative storytelling, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas turns stereotypes of First Nations’ cultures literally upside down. In RED: A Haida Manga (Douglas and McIntyre, 2009), he tells the epic tale of a Haida hero named Red, a leader so blinded by revenge that he leads his community to the brink of war and destruction. The story is told through 108 pages of hand-painted illustrations. When arranged in a specific order, the panels of the narrative create a Haida formline image four metres long. The sequence for this complex design is displayed on the inside jacket.
Drawing from classic Haida narratives, and in the “tradition of innovation,” Yahgulanaas has created a new genre called Haida Manga – part Haida, part Japanese-style comic. He has dropped the traditional rectangular boxes and gutters associated with North American graphic literature. Instead, he has invented a flowing style that uses a bold line stretched almost to the breaking point – a motif associated strongly with Haida formlines – to link the images in the narrative in a layout that confounds expectation.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas was formerly introduced to Haida iconography by his elder cousin, the painter, carver and printmaker Robert Davidson. He also studied with Cantonese artist Cai Ben Kwon. He has exhibited his art throughout Canada. His other books include Flight of the Hummingbird, A Tale of Two Shamans, The Last Voyage of the Black Shipand Hachidori. He lives close to the Two Sisters mountains on an island in the Salish Sea.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas read at the Lillooet Room of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre on September 30, 2010, 1:00.
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