BEHIND THE SCENES: The murals at our dispensaries by CACAO from, Oaxaca, Mexico.

What originally attracted Police & Thieves to C.A.C.A.O.’s work was their fragmentary, imagistic style that is reminiscent of other Mexican and indigenous iconography. It’s a style that speaks to the tradition of milagros and the practice of documenting meaning through imagery, such as hieroglyphics. Often C.A.C.A.O forms nuanced compositions where one image connects, overlaps, or bleeds into another image, creating a grouping of interlocking or interconnected images. The pleasure of these complicated forms is subsequently countered and juxtaposed by one single image contained by its own quadrant. Naturally, the highlighting of such an image draws the eye, inviting the viewer to focus upon what might appear to be offering, and in this act of concentration, the viewer begins to feel that something cryptic has been conveyed.

The truth is, C.A.C.A.O.’s notion of a mural could be interpreted as an ofrenda, since embedded into the artwork and overall design are symbolic gestures, graphic elements, and phrasal substructures. 

An example of how C.A.C.A.O uses phrasal substructures can be seen in both murals at Colfax and Harrison. The first layer designed for the mural located at 6302 E Colfax was a framework of block lettering that extended the full height of the three walls and spelled MARIA RESIST RESIST. The phrasal substructure that was designed for the dispensary located at 399. S. Harrison is RESPECT POT. These words cannot be read in the murals themselves, as C.A.C.A.O has occluded the lettering with a second layer of imagery, though the meaning and intention remains. It should be stated that the architecture of each building was considered and influenced how the quadrants or compositions would be presented. This interplay between symbols, architectural elements, and art enhances the overall cohesiveness of the mural. 

Many of the symbols within these two murals, however, are recognizable, being deeply rooted in marijuana culture. The symbols chosen for the mural are contiguously utilized for their potential to encrypt information, as employed by various subcultures over time. An example of this can be found on the parking lot side on 6302 E Colfax, where one of the images within the mural begins with a closed fist, which, at first glance could convey resistance, but when considered within the larger context, one can intuit a certain code forming among the other depictions of hands that form the letters ACAB—a code adopted within many subcultures around the world as a protest against political abuse. To preserve the interesting artistic texturing, C.A.C.A.O stratifies the message of resistance within the symbolism of hand gestures, and in doing so, is able to subtly highlight the illicit history of marijuana, and in doing so, elevates a powerful subculture that embraces marijuana as a medium for broadening a communal creativity while simultaneously centralizing one’s own personal power.

The words MARIA RESIST RESIST contain special meaning for Police & Thieves, as it alludes to an academic theory locating the etymology of the word marijuana to the Spanish colonization of the indigenous population in Mexico. The theory of Dr. Santiago Ivan Guerra of Colorado College postulates that when the Spanish arrived in Mexico and banned the local population’s consumption of ceremonial psychotropic plants, it created a space for the consumption of a little known plant that the Spanish forced the indiginous peoples  to grow and cultivate, hemp. However, the indigenous population soon discovered that while they didn’t have their traditional plants, they could smoke the flower of the Spanish sanctioned plant with similar results. Thus, they resumed their ceremonies, though kept their beliefs and gods hidden by calling the plant Maria Juana or Doña Maria, making the Spanish believe that they had converted by worshiping the Virgin Mary. In continuing their own ceremonies with marijuana, they found a way to subtly subvert the power structure, which is what C.A.C.A.O. facsimilates in the mural.