Daalkaatlii Diaries (series)
2024
The Daalkaatlii Diaries is a series of 26 paintings, initially commissioned for an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition, Diaries After a Flood, was on display from September 8, 2024 until February 23, 2025.
Each painting in the series is approximately 100cm x 150cm, painted with acrylic on canvas.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Daalkaatlii Diaries, 2024. Diaries After a Flood, installation view, MOCA Toronto, 2024. © Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. Photo: LF Documentation.
The series was inspired by the historical narrative of a significant flood event in a tidal slough and expansive tidal grass flats. This area is known as Daalkaatlii, named after the magnificent sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis).
Daalkaatlii is located along the northern shoreline of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago whose name is a contemporary interpretation meaning “coming out of concealment.” This Indigenous territory lies off the west coast of North America and extends into the southern islands of Alaska.
