Jaalen has worked hard over the years to revitalize the Haida language, most recently participating in a language boot camp in Masset.  He has also collaborated with his brother Gwaai on a variety of language initiatives through their collective, K’aalts’idaa K’ah, including the Haida Raid series of Haida language stop motion animations and the Haida language play, Sinxii’gangu.

Storytellers and Language Keepers is a large-scale sculptural piece inspired by this work in language revitalization.   On exhibit in the Our Living Languages exhibit at the RBCM since its completion in 2014, the sculpture depicts the language being passed from one generation to the next, symbolized by two figures connected by a tongue.  The large sculpture itself is outlined by the form of a Haida designed ear suggesting that listening is a central part of language acquisition.