Mind your roots: Jared Yokte’s Mindless Spectators on the forgotten wisdom of trees  

In an exercise of remembering, how do we stop our projections from clouding things as they really were?

In Mindless Spectators, Jared Yokte takes us on a walk in that small part of the woods that still remembers trees as those understated, wise, ancient beings. What really makes a “mind”? In the context of the biological value of trees, trees are far from mindless, but rather sentient spectators of time after time. They bless us with a breathable atmosphere, mutely witness the seasons turn and eons turn, but also wield the power to conceal towering temples and traces of entire civilizations under centuries of undisturbed overgrowth. Given this magnificence, Yokte wonders—why can’t we act like harming a single one is as valid as the violence involved in harming human life?

As we witness current events unfold in horror globally, we continue to see the burning horrors brought about by forgetting natural history and our rootedness in nature, as well as our interconnectedness with the physical world—whether we like it or not.

Yokte responds to the underlying themes that appear regularly in his works—like socio-politicial strains between man and land, land and life, and the deep and endangered relationship of farmers and peasants with the land—by expressing the narrative of the natives.  “By delving into ordinary people’s stories and myths, I’m researching spirituality,” he said. “This idea emerged to me after I noticed scars on the bodies of our trees and attempted to investigate their origins. Perhaps these are indications of our people’s desire to progress, as reminders about the past and we may bury our history here.”

To illustrate, he offers an interactive installation of a dead tree trunk with an open invitation to be written on. Presented without a title, the piece will be named after the most dominant message to emerge after its body has been filled with messages.

Surrounding the installation is his acrylic-on-canvas portraits that continue to feature his naked, hirsute characters—while departing a bit from his usual darker undertones. Mindless Spectators feels a bit more like a bittersweet, nostalgic but defiant homage to trees, challenging traditional representations of trees and the idea of tree-hugging, with an urgent call to save the cherished beings that continue to save us regardless. As Yokte believes, a single, profound living such as a tree could illustrate “the story of climate change, cultural struggles, and personal experiences.” He believes the trees are the only living analog receptacles that have perfectly preserved the sacred wonders of life and all that happens in it.

“A tree that has witnessed it all, from the altered functioning of nature’s clock to the evolution of our relationship with it in our industrialized and technologically advanced lives,” he said, and wonders “how we might coexist in the distant future that we’ve altered in ways we didn’t intend and how trees can lead the way.”

If we woke up one day to see these magnificent beings getting up to speak, take arms, and march on in protest like Ents, will we listen? We can do better by listening and acting now. After all, they can teach us a thing or two about an untainted form of remembering, being, and belonging to a whole other world outside our insatiable egos.

Nikki Ignacio