Ez in Res'

Press about Ez in Res':

-"Meet the world's first artist-in-residence at a cannabis company" Read about the video at CBC Arts here.
-"Check Out These Mesmerizing Shots By A Marijuana Company's Artist-In-Residence" Read about the video at Civilized here.
-The video was also covered in Ganjapreneur, The Times of Israel, Hydro Life and The Cannabist.

Ez in Res' - Artist's Statement

The Ez in Res’ music photeo was released on YouTube on April 13th, 2017, with the following Artist's Statement:

In honour of my 45th birthday today, I’m releasing my new ‘music photeo’*, Ez in Res', about my year so far as the world’s first artist-in-residence at a cannabis company, namely Tweed, Canada's largest licensed cannabis producer.

By coincidence, today is also the day the Canadian Government has chosen to table legalization legislation in Parliament to officially start the process of ending 94 years of prohibition in Canada. (see tabling recap at the CBC: http://tinyurl.com/l3fcqnb)

I am humbled by the auspicious timing: a birthday, a video release and a historic step forward by the government - all in one day.

Best birthday present ever. :)

After 9 months of my Tweed residency, I'd built up quite a large collection of images from my travels and began feeling that sharing them one by one on Facebook and Instagram wasn't going to cut it. The filmmaker in me needed to bring to life all the things the photographer in me had created. But how?

And then one sunny recent Sunday, while doing jumping-jacks as part of a health kick, I rediscovered an old forgotten favourite song of mine from 2008, called "Free Medicine," by the now sadly-defunct Montreal folk band Lake of Stew.

In a flash (literally a jumping-jack flash), it occurred to me that this tune, with its provocative title and irresistible jangle and twang, would probably make for a great backdrop to some of my best shots from the residency.

It was time. Time for me to whip up a new one of my 'music photeos', a kind of slide-show-meets-meets-music-video I'd very much enjoyed creating in recent years with the music of singers like Josh Ritter, Adam Cohen and Mike Evin. (See: http://tinyurl.com/z6gw7sw)

What the heady words 'free medicine' meant to the song's co-writers (brothers Mike and Richard Rigby), I really don't know, but to me, those words - when superimposed atop the themes of medical cannabis and artistic creation - point to the recent gradual, but as-of-yet-unfinished liberation of cannabis coupled with the notion that for some people art itself (be it the creation or consumption of it) can actually serve as potent free medicine.

I for one, often feel a whole lot better when I take a new journey - big or small - with my camera, finding fresh stories to tell, people to meet and photographs to shoot. It's a 'take two photos and call me in the morning' kinda thing.

Thank you so much for watching, friend or stranger. It really means a lot to share these adventures I've been so privileged to have taken so far throughout the past year.

If you’d like to help spread the good word about my project, feel free to tell a friend by sending them a link to the page you’re on on or by just send up a smoke signal.

Thanks to Lake of Stew for the use of their classic tune “Free Medicine.”

A very special thank you to the team at Tweed for their incredible interest in and support of my work and a huge thank you to all those I met and photographed along the way in all those cities and towns.

Finally, for those wondering if I can actually provide any 'free medicine', the answer is, well, a bit of a buzzkill. :)

Keep taking photos on your side too, folks. We need more colour in this world.

-Ez

Ezra Soiferman
Filmmaker and Photographer
Montreal

P.S. If you're reading this as the video's playing, you're missing all the fun! Hit rewind and put your feet up on your desk. Travel with me.

*P.P.S. What’s a music photeo, Ez?: http://www.montrealfilmgroup.com/Music_Photeo_description.pdf

***

Contact & Orders:

To contact Ezra or to order a signed, limited edition print of any photograph featured in this video, please contact him here.

Instagram:

Follow Ezra's photo journeys on Instagram here.

Further reading...

About hemp: http://tinyurl.com/k6qtuu2
About medical cannabis: http://tinyurl.com/mrphmwu
About CBD cannabis: http://tinyurl.com/kp48769