An interview with: Quentin Pouyat

Astral speak with French visionary plant medicine painter @quentinpouyat

"Quentin is a french visionary painter. After a Master’s degree in agriculture he traveled in South America and the Peruvian jungle lead by a deep call for healing. The encounter with plant medicine is for him a decisive creative turning point. Since this time, he share is life between agriculture, plant medicine and painting. His art has been deeply nourished and inspired by ayahuasca and the years of healing and learning that he has experienced with traditional plant diets. Through his art, he endeavors to translate essence of the unique wisdom, knowledge, medicine, and visionary worlds of the master plant." - Quentin Pouyat Art

Read on below for the full interview...

'Inkaiko'

First of all, how are you and how has life been lately?

I’m doing really well. At the moment, I’m spending several months in the jungle, learning from plant medicines and painting a lot.

'Tamamuri'

Could you please tell us about yourself — where you are from, where you live now, and what you love?

I grew up in a small town in the north of France, on the edge of a beautiful forest. This early connection with nature, along with my interest in biology and plants, eventually led me to pursue a master’s degree in agriculture. After my studies, I felt a deep need to travel and heal, which brought me to South America. After many years of feeling the call, I finally encountered Ayahuasca and discovered the healing power of plant dieting — the traditional process of connecting with and learning directly from plants.

'Padma Rao'

Later, I spent several years in France working on vegetable farms while developing my painting practice in my free time. Eventually, I felt called back to the jungle. There I met my friend and teacher, who invited me to join him at his healing center in Mexico. For the past three years, I have been living half the year in France and half in Mexico, walking this medicinal path — learning, healing, and dedicating my art to the medicine. Today, my life revolves around the vegetal world: plant medicine, art, and agriculture.

'Mucura'

What are some of the recurring themes or feelings that inspire your artworks, and why?

In my early visionary paintings I explored many subjects, but over time my art naturally became devoted to the medicine. Each plant and tree carries its own visionary universe, with unique colors, atmospheres, landscapes, and energies. When I paint, I am guided not only by visions but also by dreams, sensations, knowledge, and the subtle wisdom that emerges through the process of dieting plants. My intention is to gather these medicinal elements and translate them into visual form — often through what I see as a portrait of the plant. Through my paintings, I try to bring vibrancy, luminosity, love, joy, and beauty, because these are the very qualities the medicine reveals.

'Matsi Inin'

When did you first realize you had a gift for creating visionary art, and what

motivates you to pursue a life of art?

I don’t really see it as a gift. For me it has always been about learning, practicing, and loving the process. As a child I used to draw the comics I was reading. Later, around the age of twenty, I began creating black-and-white portraits from photographs that moved me deeply. I became fascinated with trying to capture the soul and emotion behind someone’s eyes. A turning point came during my first time in the Peruvian jungle, when I began sitting with the medicine and dieting plants. It opened a completely new dimension in my creativity. I never formally studied art, but I like to think that the plants themselves have become my teachers.

'Wistin Rai Chono'

Painting has always been the most natural way for me to express what I feel and experience. I paint because I need to — it is simply part of who I am. Over time, I have also come to feel that the medicine we receive from plants and trees is waiting to be manifested through us. Besides singing in ceremony, painting has become another way to share this medicine with others.

'Shihuahuaco'

Is there a particular story of a plant medicine experience that inspired one of your paintings?

I once dieted a plant called Achiote. It is not psychoactive, but it carries many medicinal and energetic properties and has been used for thousands of years in South and Central America. About a year after that diet, I was visiting a Mayan temple with a friend and we ate a traditional dish from the Yucatán region. On the way back, I suddenly felt a strong impulse to paint Achiote.

'Achiote'

Later we discovered that the red sauce in the dish we had eaten was made from achiote. Far from the intensity of visionary ceremonies, this simple moment showed me how deeply the plants we diet remain with us and continue to work in subtle ways. That simple sauce somehow echoed my diet and awakened the living medicine of the plant within me.

'Inca Pei'

Are there any books or thinkers that have influenced your way of seeing the world?

Through the process of dieting, plants and trees have been my greatest teachers. By healing our wounds, they help realign us and teach — or sometimes re-teach — us how to relate to life. My friend and teacher is also an important guide in my path. More recently, the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda have deeply inspired me. But ultimately, through both small and profound experiences, I believe that life itself remains the greatest teacher.

'Fondation'

What does spirituality mean to you?

I am deeply inspired by the Ram Dass quote: “Love everyone, serve everyone, and remember God.” For me, spirituality is about remembering God and finding our way back to that connection. It is about actively seeking the divine and embracing this deep and universal longing that lives in every human being. I believe this path naturally goes hand in hand with living a life nourished by honesty, love, and gratitude.

'Bobinsana'

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You can discover more of Quentin Pouyat's work via their:

- Instagram

- Website

- Astral Magazine