50 Over 50: Freedom at 48 - Liza Macawili's Journey from Caretaking to Self-Discovery

Liza Macawili creates portraits that literally glow with light. She draws with light, she says. She sees the positive in the negative because of her dyslexia.

When you're taking care of both your parents with Alzheimer's and dementia, the world feels like it's falling apart. For Liza, art was the only thing that kept her sane. When her parents were in bed, she'd create. It was the only thing that calmed her down.

Now at 54, she's juggling her school schedule for her cosmetology/barber license with finding time to make art, freelance makeup work, and taking care of her elderly dad. Since her mom passed, she's trying to learn how to take care of herself too. "All of the little lights on the dashboard have been going off," she tells us. "I don't want the check engine light to come on."

Trauma shaped her art and gave it depth. When she was younger, her work looked flat to her. But she went through traumatic events in her late 40s and early 50s, and art became her therapy. That's when everything changed.

Liza is the child of Filipino immigrants, and she found it difficult to find her place in this country. Her work is heavily influenced by her Filipino heritage, her shamanic ancestry, and growing up on the West Side of Long Beach in a Black, Latino, and Polynesian neighborhood. She wants to do more work about the Filipino diaspora in America.

She really found her voice in art at 48. All of the beautiful experiences she's had in art came because she was sharing her work online and friends sent her artist calls. "Go for it!" she says to anyone considering starting later.

Making art after 50 means freedom. She makes art for herself now. If you like it you like it, if you don't you don't. When she was younger she needed validation. She is her own validation now.

She wishes she didn't worry about everything when she was younger. She wishes she was better with money back then—compounding interest! She also wishes she didn't spend so much time looking for love. "I had codependency issues," she admits. "Instead of chasing boys I could have been making art."

Her work as an artist is influenced by Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, a form of dyslexia that's a depth perception issue. She discovered she sees the positive in the negative and draws with light. Her goal as a portrait artist? To capture the essence of a person and their aura.

During the pandemic, Liza used art to ease her anxiety and depression, focusing on creating pieces of family, friends, and people in the community. Her work has been exhibited at Long Beach Airport, The New Americans Museum, The Southgate Museum, in an installation for The Los Angeles Department of Arts & Culture DTLA, and in Howard University's literary journal, "The Amistad." Internationally she's been featured on GMA Pinoy TV's Pockets of Hope.

She's also racked up awards: 3rd place in Belmont Shore's "Street Scene," 2nd place at the Long Beach 69th district office, and in 2023 she was a Lakers In The Paint Grantee. She's currently a freelance makeup artist and is a member of IATSE Local 706.

Lately she's been feeling like our freedom of speech is threatened, so she's been painting to get her feelings out. Her art is her therapy so she doesn't try to keep up with trends or markets. She creates what she feels.

She brings years of experience and depth to her art. She doesn't want to discount younger artists—they might have way more experience than her and more education in art. But she brings her unique upbringing, her careers, her neighborhood, her travels, and her perspective to the table.

The hardest part about being an artist now? Juggling everything. But she's figuring it out, one portrait at a time.

Liza Macawili is still standing, and she's just getting started.

Connect with Liza: Instagram: @sketchyoldbroad Arts Long Beach: artslb.org/artists/liza-macawili/