We are excited to announce that the JAJ mural is on view now at the Humboldtforum, Berlin on September 16.

About the work:

JAJ is a 2m x 4m watercolour and ink mural commissioned by the Stiftung Humboldt Forum. It tells the story of a young Norwegian explorer, Johan Adrian Jacobsen (1853-1947), who was hired in 1881 by Adolf Bastian, then-director of Berlin’s Ethnological Museum, to travel to North America’s northern Pacific coast.

Jacobsen returned to Berlin with approximately 1,000 artefacts from Yahgulanaas’ home archipelago of Haida Gwaii. Some of those artefacts were made by Yahgulanaas’ great-grandparents, and they are still in the museum’s collections today.

Yahgulanaas has been participating in a week of workshops and discussions at the Humboldt Forum.

Caption: JAJ, 2022. Watercolour and ink on Kozo washi paper. Collection of the Humboldt Forum, Berlin.