The evening began with special Sentia cocktails, sophisticated non-alcoholic drinks developed at Professor David Nutt’s GABALabs, designed to activate the brain’s GABA system for a sense of calm and connection.
The artist, curator, special guest, and chef collaboration featured a four-course curated dinner menu that explored the tensions between hedonism and health through beautifully crafted courses. Drawing from her artistic research and personal history, Jane Hayes Greenwood led guests through an artist-led journey into medicinal plant research, with each course paired with a plant and thematic thread from her work examining life, death, and the joy and indulgences in between.
Special guest Joanna Vamvakopoulou, neuroscientist and PhD researcher at David Nutt’s renowned Psychedelic Science Lab at Imperial College London, shared insights into the latest brain research and how psychedelics were being used to treat conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.
The evening provided bold flavors, engaging dialogue, and a feast for all the senses, with each participant leaving with a “party bag” containing a specially produced giclée print, coloring maze, sweeties, and other goodies from artist Jane Hayes Greenwood.
Jane Hayes Greenwood is a British artist working primarily in painting, alongside ceramics, sculptural installation and moving image. Her practice explores themes of transformation, intimacy, the body and mortality through an engagement with the natural world. Strange objects, imagined landscapes and otherworldly flora appear in psychologically charged environments, often infused with a dreamlike sensibility.
She holds an MA from City & Guilds of London Art School. Her recent work includes “The Witch’s Garden'”, a large ongoing painting series investigating the histories and properties of medicinal plants. The works explore how these substances, tied to marginalised knowledge systems, have been used to heal and harm, fuel addiction and care for bodies.
Hayes Greenwood’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the UK, Germany and the US, including Castor Gallery, GiG Munich, Stuart Shave Modern Art, Saatchi Gallery and Mana Contemporary. She curated “The Nature of Things”, a large-scale group exhibition at Castor Gallery in 2024, bringing together emerging and established artists around themes of ecology and lived experience.
Yasmeen Ayyashi is an artist, designer and chef. Her practice positions narrative frameworks at the core of the creative process, utilising worldbuilding, food, and game mechanics as tools for deepening immersion, and as catalysts for social and cultural reimagining. Her culinary practice leverages the politics and poetry of food through flavour, physicality and provenance, enabling the emergence of the space to tackle complex, layered issues through familiar formats. She is the founder of Local Narratives – a creative tech and narrative design studio between London, Amman and Dubai. She is currently launching the Breakup Supper Club – a space for shedding past selves, hindering ideologies and relational dynamics through intimate, as well as public culinary performances.
Joanna Vamvakopoulou is a neuroscientist and artist from Greece currently undertaking a PhD at Imperial College London as part of Professor David Nutt’s team. Her research explores the effects of a psychedelic-augmented mental imagery intervention for young people who self-harm. She has a strong background in addiction, including opioids, cannabis and alcohol, as well as self-harm research.
A dedicated advocate for mental health and drug harm reduction, Joanna has volunteered with Drug Science since 2019, supporting events and discussions on the therapeutic use of psychoactive substances and drug policy reform. She is also a founding member and scientific advisor of the Greek Psychedelic Society, which promotes scientific education, community building and public awareness in Greece.
