In Red: A Haida Manga, Michael Yahgulanaas incorporates visual practices originating from other cultures in order to tell a Haida story. The result of which pushes the limits of what indigenous media is and can be. Indigenous-made content is often isolated in time and forward momentum is seen as “inauthentic.” In an ever-changing artistic climate, it is unrealistic to expect indigenous artists to stay within strict parameters of what indigenous art can be. Incorporating a Japanese manga art style to a Haida oral history may be unexpected but it is also interesting and visually. It does not reflect an ethnographic settler-defined view of work that is traditionally Haida, but instead is a piece of media that represents the values and labour of its Haida creator. Indigenous artists and producers are present in the global sphere and global influences on their offer new ways to express values and incorporate new technologies and innovations in their production practices.

This piece by Yahgulanaas incorporates oral history and visual representation to create a new form of storytelling. Yahgulanaas uses the format of Japanese manga in order to tell a traditional story, relying on visual narrative and minimal written dialogue. This allows for a story that is fluid with the reader having more control over the pacing and direction in which the story is read.  The use of image instead of text as a means of storytelling provides a more dynamic and cohesive language.  This piece exists as a graphic novel and as a mural.  The pages in the graphic novel can be arranged in order to create a much larger image, with the lines separating images in the manga expanding into a large form line mural.  Yahgulanaas incorporates non-indigenous art making practices to assert his own visual language that is both innovative and traditional.