Sensual Photo Series Supports Self-Healing, THC Included

Treating yourself is sexy in weed wellness brand GOODWITCH’s 'Body Aware' campaign.

December 14, 2016, 5:20pm

Body Aware by GOODWITCH and Luke Abby. Images courtesy of GOODWITCH

Self-healing has never been sexier than it was at GOODWITCH’s secret photo show and product release party, Body Aware. Guests—a cross-section of artists, performers, and weed/plant enthusiasts—were met with misty scenes of the ecstatic young bodies of New York creatives, such as Alexandra Marzella, Lee Armoogam, Jasper Briggs, Aarron Ricks, and Young Gun Lee. In each of photographer Luke Abby’s shots, the models are caught in mid-Bacchian revel, luxuriating in GOODWITCH’s THC-laden products, which the guests, in turn, were invited to indulge in, speakeasy-style, as they viewed the images.

The event heralded the release of the underground, herbal wellness brand’s newest topical treatment, the Body Aware Mood Tonic: “an herbal spray supplement for enhancing body awareness, flexibility, endurance, and fluidity of motion.” “I designed it for athletes, dancers, or anyone looking to enrich their movement practice,” the anonymous GOODWITCH founder tells The Creators Project. “It heightens focus on physical sensation which is really helpful for teaching yourself new forms of movement or discovering patterns of tension in your body. It’s also full of powerful anti-inflammatory herbs which are great for muscle recovery.”

The Body Aware Mood Tonic is only the latest of GOODWITCH’s artisanal pot products, which also include THC lip balm, oral sprays, and personal lubricant. But, as the founder explains, the small and secretive nature of the business—necessary precautions, considering that weed remains illegal, though decriminalized, in New York State—means that the images of Body Aware are likely to have a far greater reach than the products themselves. Which is okay with the brand’s founder. “[These images are] meant to share the ideas inspiring the products without implying that people need to buy the products to experience what the images represent.”

The photographs, shot against sensual, texture-rich settings, are resplendant in their depictions of body positivity. Some of the shots are silly, some are alluring, but all capture these creatives in positions of unique physicality. “I wanted to create a series of images of people connecting intuitively with their bodies through movement, focused on their internal experience rather than performing,” the founder explains. “The models were asked to let what feels good direct their movements.” This creative license behind the scenes gives the Body Aware images a collaborative feeling. Yes, they promote the weed-laced herbal supplements and treatments that GOODWITCH creates, but they also actively highlight the beauty, expression, and individualism of each of the featured models.

“In different ways, I think they all project a really deep and deliberate relationship with their bodies,” the founder says of the models. “Many of them address that relationship openly in their work or on social media and that’s something I really admire.”

GOODWITCH also acknowledges and denounces traditions of “whitewashing and erasure of long-standing weed cultures” through the models chosen for the campaign: they are as diverse in their appearance and their identifications as in their vocations.

It is in that vein that the Body Aware event, in addition to being beautiful and buzzed, doubled as a fundraiser for Support.fm, a crowd-funding tool to support incarcerated trans and gender nonconforming people, a large percentage of whom have ended up behind bars due to forced dependence on criminalized drugs. “Weed businesses need to be held accountable for addressing that history [of erasure]—it should inform how we define ethical business practices in this ‘new’ industry. That doesn’t start and end with diverse representation in ads, but it’s important.”

“Communication—through images, community events & the products themselves—is the goal,” says the founder, “and profit is secondary.”