Illusive is a local Ottawa based artist who has been pouring their heart and soul into creating emotive and meaningful pieces of art since 2019, through their company Illusive Artworks. They use art as a creative outlet for their own mental illness, while advocating for mental health.
“The opportunity to work with an organization like The Royal is monumental to me,” says Illusive. “I’m doing this creative work because I’m taking care of my own mental health, but also trying to encourage active mental health care in others.”
Illusive believes in the idea – counter to positivity culture – that it’s okay to struggle while taking care of your mental health and to embrace the difficult times.
“I like to embrace my darkness,” they say. “I struggle on almost a daily basis with intrusive thoughts, an eating disorder and anxiety – my brain is working against me, but I’m trying to love all those experiences for what they bring me, because I learn from them, I enrich myself by coming through them and every bad experience shows me what I can get through. Let’s find the positive in our struggles.”
Illusive’s father lives with bipolar disorder and substance use disorder and they say that The Royal was one of the few places that helped him. Their mother is also an artist.
“I’ve had a complicated relationship with creativity because of my mental health,” says Illusive. “Anxiety is one of my biggest issues, and within that, creativity was actually hard and didn’t feel good for a long time – especially growing up with my mother who is an incredibly gifted artist.”
Illusive pushed away from art and creativity in their young adult years, feeling as though their art was never good enough.
“There came a time when things got really bad for me and my mental health,” says Illusive. “I started needing a place for the ‘bad things’ to go. I would get a physical buildup of intrusive thoughts, depressive feelings – I feel it like a weight. I started to realize that when I put some of that negativity into a creative expression, the weight would lift a little bit. It didn’t matter what I would produce – I could whip the paint on the canvas.”
Illusive has found a new sense of power by finding enjoyment in the creative process.
“I found a way to look back at my own struggles with beauty,” they say. “When I have a painting that’s about a sad story, but it looks beautiful, that helps me feel better about the experience.”
The Royal Ottawa Foundation is so grateful to Illusive for collaborating with us on the beautiful cover art they created for this special insert.
“It really meant a lot to me to work on this piece, to create it, the process of thinking about everything The Royal means to me was a really powerful process for me as an artist, as well as a blessing of an opportunity.”
IG: illusive_artworks
Website: illusiveartworks.com
Email: illusive.artworks@gmail.com