Leilani Bustamante was born in Santa Rosa California and is a graduate of the Academy of Art University. She grew up between the suburban sprawl and rural Fort Bragg, where she draws inspiration from their simultaneous decay and growth. Her work often voices themes of mortality exploring elements of death, rebirth, beauty and spoil, the loveliness of the macabre and the mournful influence of osteological motifs. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.