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 鈥淗aida Manga鈥� 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 鈥淛AJ: a Haida Manga鈥� leap off the page as they draw the audience inside the world-spanning story.

Released in May, the book traces the journeys of both Yahgulanaas鈥檚 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 鈥� whose works are in institutions including the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vancouver Art Gallery 鈥� 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 鈥減romised much and given little鈥� by those who hired him.

鈥淚 discovered that, like myself, he comes from a small fishing village. His family would harvest seabird eggs for sale and eating, and I鈥檝e done the same,鈥� he said.

The artist鈥檚 mission is to create artwork that 鈥渁llows people who don鈥檛 know us to see us as humans,鈥� which he said hasn鈥檛 been the case for Indigenous Peoples and people of colourthrough colonization, and to a significant degree still isn鈥檛.

鈥淚 thought, if people could see the 鈥榦ther,鈥� whoever the other is, as a son or a daughter, that would go a long way to humanizing and alleviating the violence.鈥�

The panel style of 鈥淛AJ鈥� is common to Japanese Manga and graphic novels, but instead of rigid boxes, Yahgulanaas鈥檚 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 鈥� the book鈥檚 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.

It鈥檚 a style Yahgulanaas has employed in previous Haida Manga works.

The original 鈥淛AJ鈥� 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 Jacobsen鈥檚 story.

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

Yahgulanaas鈥檚 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 鈥淛AJ,鈥� Yahgulanaas said he discovered that ancestors on his father鈥檚 side came from the same part of Norway as Jacobsen, making the story even more personal.

鈥淚t became more important to humanize all the characters,鈥� 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 鈥渕onumental,鈥� often ending up in privileged places like grand institutions and private collections.

That bothered Yahgulanaas.

鈥淲e reduce ourselves as individuals. We make ourselves small in the presence of that which is grand and great,鈥� he said.

The scale of Yahgulanaas鈥檚 murals preserves a sense of grandeur, but transforming them into books makes them accessible and engaging.

鈥淎 book can live in your hand. You can flip the page forwards and backwards. You are in control of the flow of the story 鈥� it is subject to your interpretation.鈥�

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

The artist said 鈥淛AJ鈥� is an invitation to start a conversation, and forge new relationships that put an end to violence.

鈥淚t鈥檚 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.鈥�

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

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