CULTURAL GROUP:
Haida

BORN:
1954

BIRTHPLACE:
Masset, Haida Gwaii

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas became a full-time artist in 2001 after a successful career in politics. He has always been involved in the arts in some form. In 1978, he worked on a totem pole under celebrated Haida artist Robert Davidson. In 1999, he studied calligraphy under Cai Ben Kwon from the Canton School of Art. Between 2000 and 2002, Michael honed his skill as a creator of Haida Manga, a distinctive fusion of Asian comic book drawing and Haida subject matter. His books Red and Hachidori epitomize this style of illustration. In 2009, Michael was included in the Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver, BC. Michael has pieces in the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, AB, and the Manga Museum in Kawasaki, Japan.