Vibrant blue waves wash up on a sandy beach, dotted with shells and logs. In the distance, the forest meets the cityscape. A young teen wearing a “Land Back” t-shirt strolls along the seaside collecting garbage — an activity she once did with her missing Gran. Yet, as she walks, she can’t seem to shake the feeling that an orca keeps following her.
These images depict the iconic features of ʔəý alməxʷ / Iý álmexw — the Jericho Lands — in Emily Graceanna Pearson’s illustrations for Minnow: The Girl Who Became Part Fish, a graphic novel written by Métis author Willie Poll.
Pearson is a Dakelh illustrator and artist from the Stellat’en First Nation. She grew up in B.C.’s northern interior and graduated from UBC with a bachelor's of science in biology; her field of study influences her artwork, which tends to focus on the beauty of B.C.’s natural environment and the ecological threats the region faces today. Described by publicist Daniel Shehori as “‘a literal Land Back love letter’ for the next generation,” Minnow tells the story of an Indigenous water protector who, with the help of her community, fights for her home.
Minnow kickstarted Pearson’s transition into full-time illustration. After graduating from UBC during the pandemic, Pearson had time to reignite her longstanding passion for the arts with her newfound scientific knowledge. Despite not thinking it was realistic to pursue an art career, this period allowed her to begin seriously creating digital illustrations. Poll saw Pearson’s fan art of Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games on social media, leading her to recommend Pearson as a potential artist to bring Minnow to life.
The novel begins with Minnow mourning the loss of her Gran, who has been missing for 74 days. After Minnow tells her mom about the friendly orca that seems to be following her (an animal known for not coming close to the shore), Minnow’s mom helps her cope by taking her to one of her favourite places — the aquarium.
During this visit, Pearson has a chance to tap into her background in biology, using her illustrations and scientific knowledge to ground the novel’s environmental themes in her personal interests in conservation and ecology. “I did get a little bit nerdy,” said Pearson, noting how she took the time to illustrate specific species, like the blue throat triggerfish named Spot. Although this species is known to be timid, the fish is oddly attracted to Minnow, following her as she walks.
Mystified by the fish's out-of-character actions, Minnow quickly befriends Celia, an aspiring marine biologist, and asks her if she noticed any other animals acting differently. Sure enough, the orcas were strangely excited the day Minnow visited. The next day, the two girls use a hydrophone to listen to the whales. While Celia hears the typical screeching and clicking of orca pods, the two are shocked to discover that Minnow understands them. Minnow’s strange powers heighten later in the book, as she transforms into a fish girl in the water. Her eyes turn black, resembling an orca’s, and her feet are traded for flippers.
As her mother sees Minnow’s transformation, she explains to her that she is actually “part Nibiinaabe,” and the mysteries surrounding her begin to become clear. Minnow’s powers began with her great-great-grandmother braving a storm. Here, her ancestors made a deal with Mishipeshu — a powerful underwater being — who gave them a gift; every matriarch born in a second generation would be a water protector.
In scenes like this one, where Minnow’s mother shares the story of their ancestors, Pearson wanted the tone of the illustrations to change. “I wanted it to feel like how you’re envisioning [it], when you’re hearing a story, you’re trying to imagine it and it feels so grand,” she said.
Using her newfound knowledge and her Gran’s connection to the orcas, Minnow learns that the water calls them to where they are needed most. With an oil pipeline threatening the Great Lakes, Minnow dreams of being sucked into a toxic oil spill and her Gran arguing with the workers. Pearson designed the scene with particular attention to demonstrating the severity of the environmental destruction — a major focus of the book — as the fish in contact with the spill immediately turn into bones.
Minnow goes back to the aquarium, echolocating with the orcas to learn how they were stolen from their homes. She reunites with her Gran, who has become an orca.
Following in her Gran’s footsteps, Minnow strives to protect the planet and its inhabitants from oil drilling and pipeline expansion by enlisting Celia's help in putting on a “real live fish girl” show, imploring the public to “say no to oil and protect the orcas.” At the show, she explains that there are plenty of ways people can support the mission, including recycling, avoiding overfishing and creating sanctuaries for living beings. Eventually, the fight against the pipeline is won.
"I felt very seen by the story, and I think a lot of people will as well,” Pearson said. And while she's "not a mermaid," she joked, Pearson's own goals to protect the water reflect and passion for environmental justice mirror Minnow and Celia. Pearson said that, like many Indigenous students at UBC, she built her connections through showing up for causes she believed in. Her activism drove her to “want to make more of a change and to take action to protect ecosystems.”
In Minnow, Pearson was dedicated to creating “very real representation[s] of Indigenous people” that accounted for different skin tones, hair textures and other unique traits that stem from mixed heritage and geographical differences. “I’m also multiracial, so my family on my dad’s side is settler,” Pearson said. “My mom’s side is Dakelh as well as African heritage, so I think that for me, all of those identities coming together for my own personal identity really does shape my art style and what I want to tell in stories.”
But rather than creating a story that limits itself to simply representing Indigeneity, Minnow makes it the core of the work. One of Pearson's favourite parts of illustrating Minnow was building the world and its characters alongside Poll. With inclusive images and proper portrayals of Indigenous ways of knowing and being, Pearson hopes that younger Indigenous readers will learn that they deserve to have stories told for and about them.
“I really had a fun time with designing the characters in the book, and I had a lot of creative freedom,” Pearson said. After hearing how Poll imagined Minnow’s friend Celia as a cool-yet-nerdy girl, Pearson drew quirky and colourful outfits — like overalls covered in starfish and jellyfish that convey her love for marine life. Pearson most enjoyed illustrating scenes with larger crowds. “It was fun to envision more characters to fill the crowd and think of what kind of people you would see at events like these.”
The combination of Pearson’s vibrant illustrations and Poll’s writing leaves its readers with a desire to move from passive political inaction to envisioning a future of hope and justice for generations to come. Pearson hopes that after reading Minnow, younger people might become inspired to create their own stories, because “having a success story, even fictional, can be really, really helpful to have some hope.”
