All Trees Bear Witness: Colonial Histories, Climate Breakdown, and Sonic Experiments in Silvic Storytelling (Film Screening & Discussion)

All Trees Bear Witness: Colonial Histories, Climate Breakdown, and Sonic Experiments in Silvic Storytelling is a two-part program which explores narratives of colonialism and climate change through the biodata sonification of witness trees—woody subjects who have experienced significant events in history. The program recognizes trees as affective beings capable of communicating not only their aliveness, but also their experience of events that occur within and against their ecosystems across varying temporalities. All Trees Bear Witness approaches these silvic stories through artistic applications of biodata sonification. That is, through the use of specialized devices which translate the biological processes of an organism into sound. The novel approach presents humans with opportunities for deep listening engagement with the more-than-human and even for interspecies musicking.

All Trees Bear Witness ultimately asks: if humans better comprehended what trees communicate about the roots of the accelerating climate crisis, would we listen?

This event is free and open ot the public, but registration is required.

The program includes the premiere of musician-folklorist Daniel Bachman’s film, The Witness Tree; a discussion moderated by convener Tyler Mark Nelson with two multidisciplinary artists of Virginian roots—cultural worker Cliff Chambliss, III, and scientist Willow Gatewood; and an outdoor biodata sonification workshop led by Willow inviting participants to listen to the life processes and storytelling of New Haven trees.

The Friday evening portion of this event begins with the debut of Daniel Bachman’s film, The Witness Tree, a meditative investigation of the intersections of history, power, people, and place. He interviews sixteen trees within the historic boundaries of colonial Virginia, much like a folklorist would gather stories for an oral history project. Each tree is recorded using sensors that measure respiration, gas exchanges, and water control. This data is converted to MIDI and integrated into Bachman’s compositions of guitar drones, environmental audio, and archival sound collage. From these silvic stories emerges a direct connection between colonialism and contemporary climate breakdown.

Among the sixteen trees are a thousand-year-old baldcypress that grew in the land before European colonization; a Southern catalpa at Chatham Manor described in a Walt Whitman poem after the Battle of Fredericksburg; the last surviving basswood in Charlottesville that was present to the 1924 unveiling of the Robert E. Lee monument, the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in 2017, and the Lee monument’s eventual removal in 2021; the Emancipation Oak at Hampton University, where the first Southern reading of the Emancipation Proclamation occurred in 1863; and a dogwood at the edge of the blast zone for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Interviews with humans are also included in the film.

Bachman’s The Witness Tree seeks to expand the ways that witness trees are classified, both as subjects who lived through historical narratives (like those often targeted or censored by colonial powers) and as modern-day witnesses to the defining experiences of our time. “All trees are witness trees,” he writes in the liner notes of the album accompanying this film.

Following the film, Tyler Mark Nelson will moderate a discussion with two multidisciplinary artists: Cliff Chambliss, III and Willow Gatewood. Both are natives of Virginia and have personal connections to the histories and places featured in The Witness Tree. Their conversation will cover the themes raised by Bachman’s film, including the relationships between trees and humans, the possibilities for more-than-human oral history projects, and the role of art in communicating complex realities.

On Saturday, Willow Gatewood will facilitate a biodata sonification workshop among the trees at the Farnam Memorial Garden. This outdoor sonic experience will invite participants to mindfully investigate their entanglements with the more-than-human world while considering the silvic stories in New Haven and across New England. All are welcome to register. Due to limited space, the workshop will be capped at 25 people. Persons whose interests relate to ecological sound/art/design, religion and ecology, multispecies studies, environmental humanities, and similar subjects are especially encouraged to register. View workshop details and registration here.

This event is convened by Tyler Mark Nelson. Speakers and artists include Daniel Bachman, Cliff Chambliss, III, and Willow Gatewood, the latter of whom also facilitates the Saturday biodata sonification workshop. Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.

Speakers:

• Tyler Mark Nelson
• Daniel Bachman
• Cliff Chambliss, III
• Willow Gatewood

Contact: Katya Vetrov