Cannabis has always been an inspiration for artists – mostly in literature, music and performing arts, but also in all other fields of creativity. With 50 Shades of Green I wanted to pay a tribute to the plant that has inspired generations of artists, by elaborating and amplifying its perceptual aspects: color, scent and texture. This is why I’m designing the installation as a sensorial chromatic, olfactory and tactile experience.

“Smells like cannabis” and “green like weed” are actually (partially) stereotypes, given the abundant variety that mother nature and growers infuse in all the cannabis variations in terms of colors and smells, among the various components. So here we go with a carnival of colors and scents, brought by cannabis terpenes that will be matched with the colors of the respective strains, to celebrate all diversities within “the plant”.

50 Shades of Green is a weed-hemp-inspired art installation that celebrates cannabis and the interaction of the plant with human society over the last few thousands of years, for a wide variety of uses and applications. And, from a personal point of view, the importance that cannabis has played in my own cultural development, since the age of 16. Musically, weed took me from reggae to punk, hip-hop, indie rock and techno, while its psychotropic influence has been the perfect partner that helped me infuse a bit of psychedelia in pretty much all my art creations. Ditto.

Also, I have spent the last 15 years or so between California and Spain, two places where cannabis is a big part of the local culture – also now totally legal in California, and partially legal in Spain thanks to the work of the many cannabis associations that promote self-cultivation. So yes – this time, rather than just being inspired by cannabis while creating whatever else, I’ve decided to get inspired by the plant to create a tribute to it. Rastafari, man!