Clarisse Mexicott is an artist and researcher on the MA Art in Science programme at Liverpool John Moores University, where her practice explores the intersection of creativity, lived experience, and health. Her work is shaped by an autoethnographic approach, using personal experiences with anxiety as a way of opening up conversations about mental health in wider cultural contexts.

She is particularly interested in how play, metaphor, and design can make mental health more approachable. Her current project, Mental Forest, is a collaborative board game that transforms the challenges and supports of mental health into a shared journey. Through colour, symbolism, and interaction, it aims to normalize conversations that are often hidden by stigma or clinical language.

Across her practice, she seeks to create work that is both visually engaging and socially meaningful — projects that not only represent lived experiences but also invite participation, reflection, and dialogue.

Mental Forest

Mental Forest is a collaborative board game created to normalize conversations about mental health through play. Developed as part of the MA Art in Science program at Liverpool John Moores University, the project uses color, metaphor, and interaction to transform complex emotional experiences into a shared, approachable journey.

Players move through a painted forest, collecting key fragments while facing setbacks, drawing action cards, and offering each other help when needed. The game mirrors the unpredictability of mental health — moments of struggle, progress, and support — without becoming clinical or prescriptive. Experimental elements, including thermo-chromatic paint that reveals hidden instructions when touched, further highlight the theme of visibility and invisibility in mental health experiences.

Grounded in auto-ethnography and refined through play testing with peers, tutors, and mental health professionals, Mental Forest demonstrates how creative health methods can turn vulnerability into connection, encouraging dialogue that feels as normal as sitting down to play a game with friends.