Mischief Making: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Art, and the Seriousness of Play

MISCHIEF MAKING: MICHAEL NICOLL YAHGULANAAS, ART, AND THE SERIOUSNESS OF PLAY, written by visual anthropologist Nicola Levell, is a richly illustrated, scholarly yet accessible book dedicated to the work of this acclaimed Haida artist. Sculptor, painter, storyteller, installation artist, activist and originator of “Haida manga,” which marries “traditional” Haida formlines with Asian comic graphics, Yahgulanaas employs mischievous tactics and playful forms, Levell tells us, to convey serious messages about Haida culture, sovereignty and land claims, and global environmental issues. Levell also celebrates Yahgulanaas’ “hybrid” creative strategies and his creation of “a new art for negotiating new perspectives, positions and identities."