Shane Mecklenburger explores capitalism and the construction of value with a diamond made entirely from cannabis

It’s green, shiny, and less than 6 millimeters wide, but Shane Mecklenburger’s cannabis diamond contains a world of associations. Made exclusively from Star Spangled Bruce Banner, a hybrid cross of the Bruce Banner #3 and Stardawg cannabis strains, the diamond makes absurdist reference to the connections between luxury culture, capitalism writ large, and the transformation of cannabis into a luxury commodity. It also suggests altered states: obviously, Bruce Banner’s transformation into the mean and green Incredible Hulk, and more subtly, the psychological toll of an inhumane economy.

The object is the latest in the multidisciplinary artist’s long-running Tendered Currency project, a series of diamonds made from unexpected carbon sources. The project “interrogates the intersection between luxury commodity culture, art, and the way value is constructed,” Mecklenburger says. Past entries include diamonds made from an armadillo carcass, gunpowder, and a printed excerpt of the Superman III screenplay.

Funded with grants, the diamond production itself is provided by LifeGem, an Illinois company that specializes in creating diamonds from the ashes of customers’ loved ones. Mecklenburger showcases his lab-produced gems with a certificate of authenticity that wryly notes, “In memory of” the chosen material. Although he’s likely to keep his original cannabis diamond, he plans to sell made-to-order cannabis diamonds produced from other strains as a separate project.

The cultural implications of Star Spangled Bruce Banner allow Mecklenburger to hint at several systems of abuse: toxic masculinity, enslavement as the foundation of global capitalism and modern blood diamond mining, and mass incarceration as driven by the war on drugs.

“The cannabis diamond calls attention to what happens when this naturally occurring organism is commodified to an absurd extreme, while at the same time people are still serving lengthy prison sentences for marijuana possession,” Mecklenburger says. “I think the work comes from a place of extreme discomfort.”