Smiley faces Haida style: totem carver rolls out emojis for the digital age

A renownedcarver of monumental B.C. totem poles has turned his hand to the creation oftiny Haidaemojisfor the digital age.

Jaalen Edenshaw'straditional art, which includes masks, canoes, and red cedar totem poles 13 metres high,is on display in galleries around the world.

Now, his Haida emojisare available onthe Apple app store, free to all.

"This felt good, to be able to bring some of our our traditional culture... through the digital culture," said Edenshaw, who said he scribbled his initial designs on a napkin before handing them off to his collaborator Geoff Hornerfor digitization.

With millions of emojis in use, the icons are like acompressed shorthand for feelings and feedback on social media, texts and emails.Some experts say they're transforming communication, and evenreplacing words throughexpressive faces and signs.

In recent years, emojis have evolved to better reflect ethnic and cultural diversity. Last year, Australia rolled out Indigenous emojis for the first time, created by Indigenous youth in that country.

Edenshaw admitshe'd never used an emoji in his life. But he watched his children send standard emojis to family members and was inspired.

Inspired by 'ancient' art

Now, his son's favouriteemoji is a Haida word bubble, or juup, which is theequivalent to a "poke" onsocial media.

In addition to the emoji word bubbles, Edenshaw's new Haida sets include standard bright yellowfaces typical of emoji expressions, only with "Haida eyes,"he said.

Other expressive Haida emoji faces look like traditional masks.

The emojis also feature Haida words; Siijuu, meaning slick or cool, and K'w, which is an expression of displeasure.

Edenshaw saidsome of hisminiature icons draw onpre-existing Haida weaving and art. "I thought I'd seen a few little guys that look pretty much like the emojisof today in some of the ancientpieces," he said.

"And I think that might have been part of the sparkas well."

From giant totems to tiny emojis

Edenshaw wants the emojisto resonatewith Haida youth. But he's aware of the limits of digitization.

"I don't think that the emojis in themselves are going to a make a major change within Haida culture or anything," he said. "But it's keeping the stories and making them accessible. Keeping the language and the art in use and relevant to today."

Next, Edenshaw would like to see a Haida spell check for people learning the endangered Indigenous language.

For now, though, he's back to creatingmore traditional work.

Right now, he's carving a 10-metre long dugout canoe for youthon Haida Gwaii.