THE EVIL TWIN [2022]

Two crops almost identical botanically (with very similar properties although slightly different in chemical composition), hemp and marijuana are being portrayed as the good and the evil. The former being a perfect sustainable, eco-friendly, carbon negative, zero waste alternative to synthetic fibers. The latter, still mostly not legalised and associated with addiction, crime, and shady business. The valuable extracted parts in the manufacturing of the two are opposite as well: hemp is mostly cultivated for its stalks, whereas marijuana is just farmed for flowers and buds. Where does the rest of the plant end up? Would it be possible to use its byproduct to produce textile fibers? Is the possibility being even discussed? In an attempt to move away from the binary connotations characterising the two crops, this research tries to tie them back together, showing their socio-political, biological entaglements. A series of conversations with weed and hemp producers in the Netherlands guided this reconnection.

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