Lala Jara Tuazon

As a self-taught artist, Lala (b. 1983) has an academic background in Psychology and Education. She holds a Master's degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of the Philippines and a Master's degree in Education from the Ateneo de Manila University, where she also completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

An educator and a creative at heart, she is fascinated in the process of creation whether through visual arts or through writing poetry and prose. She incorporates all her past experiences in her work. Her first children’s story board book, Masaya Pala!, was published by Adarna House in 2020. It condenses the concept of Separation Anxiety in a school setting for very young children who attend school for the first time.

In her abstract paintings, she projects various human emotions onto the canvas. Most of the time, her pieces emanate love and hope. Using a slow process of painting one layer on top of another, she adds textures and organic shapes that could be interpreted in various ways. Aside from color, space, and interrelationships of figures in her artworks, she emphasizes the role of latent time.

Her abstract works explore the quiet interplay of color, space, and suspended time. Her layered compositions—marked by organic forms and contemplative silences—serve as meditations on memory, emotion, and the evolving nature of human connection. Often drawing on themes such as object permanence and familial bonds, her art reflects a deep engagement with the emotional landscapes of everyday life through abstraction.

She has been part of several group exhibits in Metro Manila and has been commissioned to create artwork for various spaces. Her triptych, Pasasalamat: Usbong at Yabong, is on permanent display at the Henry Sy Sr. Hall of the UP College of Medicine. Committed to accessibility in the arts, Lala founded Art for Education in 2019 and co-founded Art Forward Manila in 2024.