Clan Hat

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Clan Hat, 2021-2025, 4m x 2m. Kozo Washi (handmade Japanese mulberry paper), ink, and graphite finishing. Vancouver Art Gallery.

Clan Hat (2025)

Polyptych, four artworks 100x200 cm each. Kozo Washi (handmade Japanese mulberry paper), ink, and graphite finishing.

By Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Clan Hat is a multi-year project that was commissioned by and for the permanent collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The mural tells the first chapter of a three-part story of MNY’s imagination. It explores the range and quality of relationships that individuals build to create functioning societies and how these structures respond to external challenges.

Clan Hat: A summary of Chapter One

There is only a pillar breaking the tension between ocean and sky.

Tethered to this vertical finger of stone is large wooden hat which hovers above the dark waters. It a smaller hat and a cluster of buildings provide a platform for a small community.

Harvesting and mining the pillar provides a bare minimum existence for this tightly controlled community. Hierarchy and the pursuit of limited resources lead to accidents that make survival in the already harsh environment increasingly difficult. 

Simjuaay, a young woman trained as a high ranking navigator, is determined to leave the pillar to secure the resources needed to build a new life for her Clan. She sets out with a small team on a perilous voyage, unknowingly pursued by others that are threatened by her liberating vision. 

End of chapter one