With summer now officially in full swing, Glass House Farms is pumped to celebrate Pride this month! In addition to offering a vital opportunity to uplift and recognize the LGBTQIA+ cannabis community, Pride is also a reminder to reflect on the seminal efforts of underground, queer-led organizations that spearheaded California’s medical marijuana movement.

If you need a refresher, fear not! We have you covered with our four-part series on the history of cannabis. But along with making time to honor the past, Glass House Farms also sees Pride Month as the perfect occasion to recognize our amazing, diverse array of modern LGBTQIA+ cannabis community members. Then we had got an amazing idea — but we knew we’d need an expert shutterbug to help us bring our vision to life. Enter Emily Eizen.

A former budtender for pre-recreational cannabis dispensaries, Eizen has witnessed the boom of the cannabis industry firsthand. Growing her career from budtender into a full-time multimedia artist and photographer, Eizen has become an in-demand source of creativity in the cannabis space. Per her artist statement:

“The main focuses of her work center around creating imagery that incorporates all types of subjects, bringing femme energy and diversity to an industry sorely lacking in both of these areas. Through her colorful and vibrant photography, Eizen has made it her personal and professional mission to use art as a vehicle for social change, especially by centering LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC folks at the forefront of cannabis culture.”

Eizen’s psychedelic-inspired aesthetic can now be found in mainstream publications like High Times, Playboy, Forbes, and California Leaf. For this campaign, Eizen has tapped four creative muses to be stars of a Pride photo series for Glass House Farms. Titled “Uncon(strain)ed,” these portraits incorporate set design and avant garde makeup looks to depict each muse as the namesake of a popular cannabis strain.

Eizen’s featured muses are a quartet of queer cannabis users who collectively represent a beautifully diverse array of different creative fields, identities, backgrounds, and genders. Together, under Eizen’s keen eye and direction, they’ve put together a one-of-a-kind campaign
For Pride Month that bucks the usual cannabis marketing narrative.

Los Angeles recording artist Marqui Jordan is making a splash with songs that blend catchy pop hooks with smooth R&B vocals and often focus on the authentic experience of coming of age from the queer perspective.

“For such a long time,” Jordan notes in his bio, “queerness was hidden in art but now we feel safer being loud about it. I want everything I do to scream queer!”

Eizen’s concept for Jodan’s portrait is a nod to our Garlic Starship strain. Emphasizing naturally textured hair, space age makeup, and some neon-heavy post-production, the result is a picture that depicts Jordan getting his futuristic space traveler on in style. Not featured? A breath mint, though you want to keep one of those handy as well before making full enjoyment of this garlicky, gas-tastic cross of GMO and Sensi Star. From there, prepare to hit cruising altitude in no time as you settle into this strain’s euphoric, full body experience.

Jesse Leigh is a Chinese and American non-binary actor who can currently be seen on the second season of Peackcok’s “Rutherford Falls.” With previous credits that include Heathers (2018) and Superstore (2019), Leigh’s star power made them the perfect subject for a portrait embodying the queer biker aesthetic as an ode to Glass House Farm’s Lilac Diesel. It stars Leigh rocking slicked back hair with a lone curl in front, a lavender motorcycle helmet, and a backdrop of corrugated metal. The feeling you get when you’re on the open road is an uplift on par with that of Lilac Diesel. Indeed, this is a strain that has your back, day or night, and which stakes its reputation on a complex lineage of crowd-pleasing strains like Silver Lemon Haze, Forbidden Fruit, NY Cherry Pie, and Citral Glue.

Another of Eizen’s portraits features Detroit femme queen Diallo Mitch. Now a resident of L.A., Mitch is an artist of many talents. They include rocking a campy bridal motif, as Mitch did in a portrait inspired by Glass House Farms’ Wedding Crasher. Decked out in big curly hair, white fishnets, and lace gloves, Mitch may look a tad bit nutty, but that’s just to remind you that one of Wedding Crasher’s signature aromas is nuts (along with berries and vanilla)!

Lastly, in a nod to Pride Month’s ubiquitous relationship with the rainbow flag, Eizen’s portrait of actor/model Little E. Dugan taps Glass House Farm’s most colorful strain as its inspiration. Our R*ntz is reimagined as a fiercely posed Dugan stands in the center of a playful candyscape awash in bright hues that pop from the frame. It’s enough to almost put the taste of this tropical cross of Gelato and Zkittlez on the tip of your tongue!

And just like a good cross, our portrait series collaboration with the supremely talented Emily Eizen brings the best of it all together for Pride Month. It’s definitely something we proud to share with you and huge thanks to everyone who said yes to letting their imaginations run wild in celebration of cannabis and our incredible LGBTQIA+ community.