On a ship with torn sails, tossed by churning waters, the first of many Europeans needing rescue arrives along the coast of what is now B.C., before a Haida canoe brings an outstretched paddle and the warm light of salvation.

So begins the latest book of B次元官网网址淗aida MangaB次元官网网址� by artist and author Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, as he reaches into the history of his own family and of colonization in a work that blends Indigenous artistic influences with Japanese manga comic-book story telling.

The colourful watercolour panels of B次元官网网址淛AJ: a Haida MangaB次元官网网址� leap off the page as they draw the audience inside the world-spanning story.

Released in May, the book traces the journeys of both YahgulanaasB次元官网网址檚 ancestors and the eponymous Norwegian mariner Johan Adrian Jacobsen, who visited Haida Gwaii in 1882 in search of cultural items for a German museum during a time of escalating colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples.

Yahgulanaas B次元官网网址� whose works are in institutions including the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vancouver Art Gallery B次元官网网址� said the story represents an invitation to humanize each other and forge a path toward a better future.

He said he found himself empathizing with Jacobsen, a young man who was B次元官网网址減romised much and given littleB次元官网网址� by those who hired him.

B次元官网网址淚 discovered that, like myself, he comes from a small fishing village. His family would harvest seabird eggs for sale and eating, and IB次元官网网址檝e done the same,B次元官网网址� he said.

The artistB次元官网网址檚 mission is to create artwork that B次元官网网址渁llows people who donB次元官网网址檛 know us to see us as humans,B次元官网网址� which he said hasnB次元官网网址檛 been the case for Indigenous Peoples and people of colourthrough colonization, and to a significant degree still isnB次元官网网址檛.

B次元官网网址淚 thought, if people could see the B次元官网网址榦ther,B次元官网网址� whoever the other is, as a son or a daughter, that would go a long way to humanizing and alleviating the violence.B次元官网网址�

The panel style of B次元官网网址淛AJB次元官网网址� is common to Japanese Manga and graphic novels, but instead of rigid boxes, YahgulanaasB次元官网网址檚 story inhabits window-like spaces opened by a sinuous black line ebbing and flowing through the pages.

Unfold the dust cover and a surprise is revealed B次元官网网址� the bookB次元官网网址檚 108 pages combine to form a single mural. The black line delineating the panels expands and contracts symmetrically across the mural, forming the image of a creature that recalls an old Haida weaving design.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a style Yahgulanaas has employed in previous Haida Manga works.

The original B次元官网网址淛AJB次元官网网址� mural, four metres in length, now hangs in the Humboldt Forum, a museum in Berlin whose representatives approached Yahgulanaas to see if he was interested in creating a piece of artwork reflecting on JacobsenB次元官网网址檚 story.

Also on display at the German museum is the Haida totem pole that Jacobsen brought back with him.

YahgulanaasB次元官网网址檚 work is at once playful, mischievous and serious; he depicts an encounter between Jacobson and one of his real-life ancestors, George, as a key part of the narrative.

Some encounters like this are imagined, but real historical figures play an active role in the story, overseeing the spread of smallpox that devastated Indigenous communities.

While doing research for B次元官网网址淛AJ,B次元官网网址� Yahgulanaas said he discovered that ancestors on his fatherB次元官网网址檚 side came from the same part of Norway as Jacobsen, making the story even more personal.

B次元官网网址淚t became more important to humanize all the characters,B次元官网网址� Yahgulanaas said.

Jacobsen went to Berlin to try to establish a career, improve his circumstances and start a family, and Yahgulanaas said he moved to Vancouver with similar desires.

Yahgulanaas comes from Masset, on the northern tip of Haida Gwaii, where artwork has long been an economic driver.

He said that artwork has tended toward the B次元官网网址渕onumental,B次元官网网址� often ending up in privileged places like grand institutions and private collections.

That bothered Yahgulanaas.

B次元官网网址淲e reduce ourselves as individuals. We make ourselves small in the presence of that which is grand and great,B次元官网网址� he said.

The scale of YahgulanaasB次元官网网址檚 murals preserves a sense of grandeur, but transforming them into books makes them accessible and engaging.

B次元官网网址淎 book can live in your hand. You can flip the page forwards and backwards. You are in control of the flow of the story B次元官网网址� it is subject to your interpretation.B次元官网网址�

Comic books and graphic storytelling can also span barriers of ethnicity, class, language and education, Yahgulanaas said.

The artist said B次元官网网址淛AJB次元官网网址� is an invitation to start a conversation, and forge new relationships that put an end to violence.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the Haida belief that if you make friends first, if you establish the human relationship first, then those difficult questions can be resolved much easier.B次元官网网址�

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

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