The Northern Lights over Whitehorse, Yukon. Photo courtesy of the Arctic Winter Games 2026. https://www.awg2026.org/.
Members of the Pop Culture Cluster and its partner project, Visual Storytelling in the Indigenous North, are traveling to the Yukon with six Indigenous comics artists and three Indigenous game designers to the 2026 Arctic Winter Games (AWG) to document and create AWG-inspired artworks. The AWG are happening from March 8-15 in Whitehorse and include over 20 different sporting, cultural, and community events organized through the event’s vision:
“It’s about more than just sport and competition. It’s about First Nations culture, community inclusion, and the spirit of togetherness. We are investing in our youth, helping them become well-rounded individuals that care for their community and celebrate its many facets.”
Photo courtesy of Arctic Winter Games 2026. https://www.awg2026.org/.
Meet the Comics Artists and Game Designers
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Cole Pauls, Valen Onstine, Alina Pete and Karlene Harvey will join the Arctic Winter Games Visual Storytelling project as on-site creators, attending the 2026 Games in Whitehorse to develop original comics inspired by their experiences. Through engagement with athletes, organizers, and community members, the artists will create narrative works that highlight participant stories and explore themes of cultural exchange, athletic competition, and Indigenous survivance. Developed during and in the months following the Games, the final comics will be completed off site and brought together in a single publication reflecting the spirit and significance of the Arctic Winter Games.
Ilumigarjuk (Ayla) Kreelak will join the Arctic Winter Games Visual Storytelling project as a sketch portrait artist, contributing a series of portraits based on interviews with artists, organizers, and participants connected to the Games. Working collaboratively with graduate researchers and the project’s Executive Committee, Ayla will initiate portraits during live, filmed interviews and complete the work using photographic reference materials from these sessions. She will also take part in collaboration and creative exchange within a multidisciplinary team of comics artists and game designers.
Three game designers will also join the team for a parallel project: Luke Parnell, Darin Corbiere, and Chris Cooke. The game artists will design and develop an original game inspired by the Arctic Winter Games, beginning with a playable prototype and refined through consultation, playtesting, and iteration. Working in dialogue with the project team, the artists will bring the game to ProtoCON BC 2026 for structured playtesting. Following this phase, the artists will collaborate on adapting the prototype into a digital, open-access educational resource for distribution to educators, while retaining full rights to the game beyond this edition.
Stay tuned to Visual Storytelling in the Indigenous North as this project develops and visit the project page to read full artist bios. Follow us at @ubcpopcc and @ubccomicsstudies for live updates during the games!
The project has been generously co-sponsored by the SSHRC Partnership Development Grant Visual Storytelling in the Indigenous North, UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Initiatives funding, and the Centre for Migration Studies.
Comics Artists
Alina Pete
Nehiyaw artist and writer from Little Pine First Nation, Saskatchewan. Grew up in urban settings but spent summers in the Qu’Appelle Valley with cousins from Cowessess First Nation. Best known for Aurora Award–winning comics; also writes short stories and poems. Creator and editor of the comics anthology Indiginerds: Tales from Modern Indigenous Life. Lives on unceded Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo land with their partner.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Award-winning author and contemporary visual artist. Works held in private collections and institutions including the British Museum, Humboldt Forum, Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver), Seattle Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Musée du quai Branly, Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inspired by decades of political experience in the Council of the Haida Nation and Old Massett Village Council. Publications include Flight of the Hummingbird and RED: a Haida Manga, with upcoming Lost Haida Manga (Spring 2026). His work also includes public art sculptures across British Columbia.
Valen Onstine
Cole Pauls
Champagne and Aishihik Citizen and Tahltan comic artist, illustrator, and printmaker from Haines Junction, Yukon Territory. Holds a BFA in Illustration from Emily Carr University. Cole has created four graphic novels: Dakwäkãda Warriors (2019), Pizza Punks (2021), Kwändür (2022), and We See Stars Only At Night (2025). Awards include Broken Pencil Magazine’s Best Comic and Best Zine (2017), Indigenous Voices Award for Best Work in an Indigenous Language (2020), and the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize (2023). Cole’s first solo exhibition, “Dazhän Kwändür Ch’e (This is a Story),” was held at Artspeak Gallery in 2022.
Karlene Harvey
Karlene Harvey (she/they) is an illustrator and writer, who lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. Karlene is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and grew up on territories of the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen Nations. They have illustrated several children’s book, including The Hawk Shadow, Every Child Matters, Maggie Lou, Firefox, Kaiah’s Garden, and many more. Their children’s book illustrations are known for depicting poignant and joyous moments between family members through the use of a vibrant colour palette. In 2024, their illustrations accompanied an editorial story that won gold for best digital editorial package at the Digital Publishing Awards and won for excellence in reporting at the Webster awards. Karlene studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, earning a BFA in Visual Arts. She earned a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia in 2022. Professionally, Karlene has developed a career that centers on community building and developing leadership capacity amongst women and youth. They work at UBC as an Indigenous Strategic Programming Specialist for the Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives.
Ilumigarjuk (Ayla) Kreelak
Ilumigarjuk (Ayla) Kreelakis an Inuk comic artist and live sketch portrait artist from Baker Lake, Nunavut. She is currently studying in the Inuit Studies program at Nunavut Sivuniksavut, an Inuit-founded college accredited through Algonquin College. Ayla began making comics at the end of high school, inspired in part by the debut of Snowguard, the first culturally accurate Inuk superhero published by Marvel Comics. Her work has since been published in Nunatsiaq News, and she has contributed comics to Root & STEM, a publication by the Pinnguaq Association.
Game Designers
Darin Corbiere
Born and raised in Wikwemikong First Nation, Manitoulin Island, James Darin Corbiere belongs to the Bear Clan of the Odawa tribe of the Anishinaabe nation. His Anishinaabe name is Waabi Makoohns which loosely translates to mean “Little White Bear.” Darin is a Native Studies and Anishinaabe language teacher at White Pines C. & V. S. in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He is an artist, working with pieces of white ash, letting the wood grain inspire his eyes and guide his hand. He is also a writer, recording the traditional stories told to him by his grandmother in graphic novel form.
Darin is also the creator of the Truth in Truth and Reconciliation Board Game, James merges game design, Indigenous storytelling, and visual art to engage with histories of colonization and resilience.
Chris Cooke
Chris Cooke is a Game Designer in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. He designed and self-published UNSCREWED under his company Mean Hyena Games. He's currently working on his second game.
Luke Parnell
Luke Parnell is Guxw Gahlgan (meaning “always carving“) and Laxgiik (“eagle“) from Wilps Kwa’kaans. He has been a carver for over 20 years. While his primary medium is wood, his materiality is determined on a project-by-project basis. His practice explores the relationship between Northwest Coast Indigenous oral histories and Northwest Coast Indigenous art, centering on narrative. Luke creates artworks in order to understand these histories and concepts and their relationship to contemporary events. He has been designing board games for 5 years, and tries to infuse all his teachings in his designs, while maintaining an awareness of the board game as a product.
David Plamondon
David Plamondon is Cree with strong community ties to Treaty 8 and Treaty 6 Territory. David serves as the Team Guide for Pe Metawe Together LTD which incorporates both Pe Metawe Consulting an Pe Metawe Games, both community focused organizations committed to reducing barriers and providing better access for marginalized communities in areas they have been historically excluded. A lifelong gamer, David is always working to help introduce more people into the gaming community, advocate for better representation and diversity, and pushing for more safe and inclusive spaces for gamers who have been excluded for too long. David's favorite game(s) change frequently but as of the writing of this bio, he's currently very much enjoying Innovation by Carl Chudyk and Dale of Merchants by Sami Laasko.