
Yoko commented: “The white chess set is a sort of life situation. Life is not all black and white, you don’t know what is yours and what is theirs. You have to convince people what is yours. In the chess situation it is simple if you are black then black is yours. But this is like a life situation, where you have to play it by convincing each other.”
At first glance, the sculpture looks like a conventional large chessboard of knights, pawns, bishops, etc.,. But there is nothing conventional about it for all the chess pieces are white in color! Even the chess board is made up only of white squares. You might wonder how a game of chess might be played on this one. Yoko Ono intended it to be a thought-provoking piece of art with a political message. She named it ‘Play It by Trust’.
‘Play It by Trust’ is currently displayed at the LongHouse Gallery, East Hampton near New York. The message is clear, that one would have to rely on one’s opponent’s honesty (and your own) – hence the title of the piece – to play the game.
Do you trust/ believe that you can grow from your stuck-life. You can change, you can make that decision. The relationship of a coach-coachee is that of Trust. Together, we grow & discover into a journey of moving forward & great learning.