Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a very active player in a vibrant shift in the comfortably familiar world of Canada's iconic First Nations' art. After a career that spanned three decades of involvement in high-profile Haida political successes, Yahgulanaas decided to finally apply his formal training in classic Haida design. He is a descendant of the influential artists, Isabella Edenshaw, Charles Edenshaw.

He takes from an extensive corpus of Haida narratives and transforms them into contemporary, accessible and socially relevant Art. Yahgulanaas invented a new genre of graphic narrative called Haida Manga - part Haida, part Asian, and all Michael - to combat the simplistic narratives perpetrated about Indigenous People of the Pacific Coast. He's telling another story altogether: of complex human beings struggling, loving and dreaming just like everyone else. Image credit: Farah Nosh