Inspired by the ancient worship of hemp in Japan, Human-Cannabis II: ASA (2020) is a memorial of the plant’s cultural heritage, enduring spiritual connections, and untold histories. The film depicts a story of a medieval hemp farmer, his relationship to the crop, and memories of a young girl. The first-person narration combines elements of poetry and fiction as one of Jawshing Liou’s first attempts to broaden his visual work into text-based expression.

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Liou’s interest with cannabis stemmed from a 2012 collaboration with Dr. Alex Straiker, a research scientist at Indiana University in the U.S. Their discussion centered around human brains’ ability to produce close equivalence of THC and CBD, known substances from cannabis plants. These substances are responsible for a wide range of cognitive functions including the ability to learn and to forget. The result of their collaboration was a 4-channel video, Human-Cannabis I: Sonnet 27—featuring a prehistoric encounter between human and cannabis. The images in the video suggest a primordial force both in nature and in our minds. It is a journey of someone’s memories both of a child and as a child, blurred between the lines of remembering and forgetting.

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As Liou turns his attention to the world’s cannabis history and culture, he discovers the beautiful and mysterious hemp tradition in Japan. In the Shinto coronation ceremony (Daijōsai), the emperor wears a hemp robe and receives an offering of hemp as a symbolic domain of the plant realm and silk as the animal realm. Hemp rope, paper, and fiber could be seen strung around Shinto temples and spiritual sites. Human-Cannabis II: Asa portrays hemp as a religious medium for the supernatural. The unsettled timeline is a metaphor for the mirrored images between illusion and reality, a notion of life that continues to be the main course of Liou’s work.

 

Music

"Shinrabansyo" by Amano Sen

"Awaken from A Dream" (Original) by Steven Wayne Thomas

"Uncharted Destiny" (Original) by Steven Wayne Thomas

 

Related project:

Human-Cannabis I, Sonnet 27 (2013)

Human-Cannabis III, Tracing Green (2025)

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Director Statement

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My daughter passed away from leukemia when she was 4. We are keenly aware of the blind spots of Western medicine. During our research of alternative treatment, the potential of cannabis surfaced over and over again. We were not sure of its real medical value, but was aggravated to learn any meaningful research was prohibited by law. Cannabis regulation in the U.S. has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. The impetus for me to work on this topic, however, is more than about promoting an unobstructed understanding of this plant. The scientific information got me started. It was the mystery that kept me going. For me, cannabis is a word I use to tell a story of illusion and reality; and to express my own faith and quandary.

 

In my unexpected adventure of cannabis study, I have met scientists and researchers; priests and worshipers; farmers and craftsmen; entrepreneurs and consumers. They were usually baffled by my inquiry at first, but understood my intention immediately. They also wanted me to tell their stories and were eager to learn more. The film series, Human-Cannabis, is partly their voice and partly mine. They could be yours if you find the metaphors fitting or familiar in your own journey.

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