JAJ by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas Hardback Book 9781771623537

With gorgeous imagery visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West CoastYahgulanaas uses a blend of traditional and modern art eschewing the traditional boxes of comic books for the flowing shapes of North Pacific iconography The panels are filled with colourful and expressive watercolour paintings The panels of each page if removed and assembled into one whole image form a large image reminiscent of a woven robe The story follows several historical figures including Johan Adrian Jacobsen JAJ who comes to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum through a time span that includes first contact the devastation of the smallpox epidemic and the mass resettlement of disenfranchised peoples both Indigenous and European