Interview with: Whatimleavingbehind​

August 2025

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Whatimleavingbehind, is a self taught anonymous artist. His work is art as therapy, an outlet, often combining allegory and color psychology. Whatimleavingbehind is a mental health advocate, and is disabled (invisible). He has exhibited at Purple Octopus Art, a platform addressing human disease and environmental issues. 

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Welcome Whatimleavingbehind, first tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career.
Do you remember the first artwork that stirred something inside you?

I'm from all over, military brat, I find being able to create something that can last thousands of years fascinating. Yes, Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders is the first art that stirred something inside me, i used to dream being in there as a child. 
 

You recently wrote a book called Little Bronze Ghosts tell us about it.

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The book was going to be my way of leaving a suicide note. I was in the ''Ghost world'' as described in the book more than i wasn't everyday, for almost a year. It is written like memory, and it will always be my favorite work, i will never create anything that can touch this in bronze. It's a work of dark literary fiction, blending autobiographical and romantic elements, drawn heavily from personal experience, so many actual stories from throughout my life blended with a little fiction, that's why the characters feel so real, truth is stranger than fiction, it's a bit of both. It was written so fast I was pulling things from places that took weeks after finishing the book to realize where those thoughts even came from.
 

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Could you give us some examples?

Well, Rachel is sculpted exactly as described in the book, her big ears for example, I have auditory and information processing issues from a traumatic brain injury/skull fracture, her ears are representing her understanding/auditory. The setting also, in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, is an allegory for Northern Wisconsin/Upper Peninsula Michigan, where I have many fond memories, and heritage also, I'm part Russian.
 

Could you explain the title?
 

Yes, it seems almost like the title to a horror movie, it has nothing to do with ghosts, nothing supernatural in it. I think the best way to describe it is hope and perseverance. The human spirit. The ''Dark Mirror'' series, poem, and rock material are also incorporated in, as well as ''Moonlight Dance'' gauntlet as a scene. The title of the book is actually part of a scene, dialogue. It appears like a unique love story at first, then shows how cold and truly ruthless the world can be through it's Dimitri Borgatov part, then the last part of the book, the Japanese businessman, Takashi Kageyama, will restore your faith in the world. 

 

It was written like with a gun to my head, as I couldn't leave without saying what I needed to say, through allegories, echoes, and mirroring, I have never been closer. After finishing the book, I have never felt better, i have somewhere to disappear to, when i get sick, when I go too deep into the ''Ghost world'' I put it on, often on loop, while sculpting ''Rachel'' face, it is stepping into my mind. A dream so beautiful i can never leave, it was written with hope of the afterlife, just appearing in some forest with someone like Rachel being there, someone to go rockhounding with, and to love, and everything kind of being like the first 3/5 of book, to now, the unknown and uncertainty of what might happen if i die, the book is my dream, it is here, i can disappear into it and i always feel better after. I think I needed to experience love, and had none, so I created it, and learned to love myself again through the process of writing it. The Audiobook is in my youtube videos under 3 hours - my name is the channel. There is a Content Advisory/Trigger Warnings.
 

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We are at the end of this short interview. How did you find the collaboration with our gallery?
 

I am grateful for this collaboration, thank you very much. 

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