About

I am Alexa Meresse, an art therapist dedicated to helping women reclaim their bodies through art. My work involves assisting the body in achieving resilience following verbal, physical, and/or sexual violence.

I am also passionate about natural plant dyes, and in 2025, I conducted a study on the impact of plant dyes on well-being. I extracted color from resilient wild plants to create finger paints, which I had a test panel of 20 people try blindly. They then immediately wrote a short text about their feelings during the exercise. Afterward, they followed the same protocol with synthetic paints, also blindly. The result was conclusive: without knowing what they were painting with throughout the tests, all 20 people produced radically different texts with the plant-based colors compared to the synthetic colors.

I am the first in France, and perhaps in the world, to produce a quantified study on this subject, making me a pioneer in the field. You can find detailed research results in the excellent ArtEcoVert podcast, where I was a guest.

In summary, plant-based paints generated states of calm and introspective/intimate writings, while synthetic colors were generally described as soulless or "flavorless," associated with agitated behavior and superficial/small talk writings.

I launched a second study on the impact of natural mineral earths (ochres and oxides) on well-being, the initial results of which indicate calm and serene writings and behaviors.

Following my research, and in parallel with my art therapy practice, I created PICTA NATURALIS, a brand dedicated to creating fine art and therapeutic materials, where the hand is in direct contact with natural color (earths/ochres/oxides for fine art materials and plant-based colors for therapeutic materials). I produce wax crayons, modeling clays, and plant pigments that I extract from resilient wild plants.

VULVA NATURALIS was originally a limited series from PICTA NATURALIS, which quickly generated strong and political enthusiasm. It is now a full-fledged project for which I have built a dedicated space.