Quiver Artist Collective consists of sound artist/musician Lindsay Dobbin, media artist Ann Verrall and documentary filmmaker Dianne Whelan. Ann and Lindsay live in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People, and Dianne lives in unceded shíshálh (Sechelt) territory. Quiver Artist Collective gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the Indigenous people and their ancestral territories throughout Turtle Island.

Our mandate is to develop thought provoking media arts based projects that build bridges between diverse cultures. The work focuses on fostering connections, dialogue and understanding with Indigenous artists and communities. Our projects also challenge stereotypes, support gender equity and gender fluidity.

At the core of our mandate lies a story. There is no word for forgiveness in Mi’kmaq. The translation is making it right. The difference between these two perspectives says so much about the difference in world views. Quiver projects embrace the idea of making it right through partnership, dialogue, learning, taking responsibility and moving forward together in an equitable relationship.

Past Collaborations

LINDSAY DOBBIN

Lindsay Dobbin is a mixed Indigenous (Mohawk) / Settler (Acadian / Irish) artist, musician, curator and educator who lives and works on the Bay of Fundy in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. Born in and belonging to the Kennebecasis River Valley in New Brunswick, Dobbin has lived throughout the Maritimes as well as the Yukon Territory. As a person of mixed Indigenous / Settler ancestry, Dobbin seeks to embody what it means to respect Indigenous understandings and engage in self-reflective processes of decolonization and reconciliation.

Dobbin’s place-responsive practice includes music, media art, performance, sculpture, installation, social practices and writing, and is invested in and influenced by Indigenous epistemologies and cultural practices, such as drumming. Through placing listening, collaboration and improvisation at the centre of the creative process, Dobbin’s practice explores the connection between the environment and the body, and engages in a sensorial intimacy with the living land.  As a passionate educator, Dobbin employs traditional and contemporary land-based practices, creativity, play and improvisation as tools for self-awareness, collaboration, experiential learning and community building — revealing that people and the environment are related in dynamic and living ways. Beyond their solo creative practice, Dobbin is also an active artistic collaborator, and have worked on projects with musicians, sound artists, dancers, visual artists and filmmakers.

ANN VERRALL

Ann is a Halifax-based, award-winning media artist who’s work spans genres of drama, experimental and documentary. A graduate of NSCAD University, Ann’s films have been screened at festivals in Canada, USA, England and Australia, broadcast on CBC, Movieola, MTV Logo, Super Channel and screened on Air Canada. She has taught at NSCAD University and the University of Regina where she was the Filmmaker-in-Residence in 2009. Ann also does community-based video collaboration projects in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan working in partnership with the Centre for Art Tapes in Halifax, cultural organizations in Regina, community groups and schools, as well as a team of professional artists from various disciplines – music, dance, theatre, visual arts and media arts. In 2011, Ann received the Vision and Accomplishment award from Women in Film & Television Atlantic.

DIANNE WHELAN

Dianne is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker, photographer, author and multimedia artist currently residing on the Trans Canada Trail as she makes her way across Canada for her newest feature doc project – 500 Days in the Wild. Originally from BC., Dianne multi platforms stories into films, books and interactive projects. Her projects blend adventures in the wild with an exploration of traditional wisdom in modern cultures.

In April 2010, Dianne traveled to Nepal and Mount Everest Base Camp for her award-winning documentary film 40 Days at Base Camp. Her book Base Camp 40 Days on Everest tells about her experience living and making a film on the world’s highest mountain. Her second book This Vanishing Land, references her experience as an embedded media person on a historical Sovereignty Patrol in the Canadian High Arctic. Her National Film Board documentary, This Land, is based on the same journey and has won several awards, including Best Short Documentary, Planet in Focus Film Festival and the 2010 Leo Awards for BC film and television. A multi-media web project on her Arctic journey won Best Small Multimedia Site at the Online Journalism Awards and was nominated for best art at SXSW. The site was nominated for a 2011 Gemini award for Best Original Program or Series Produced for Digital Media – Non-Fiction.