Luiza Cachalia was born in 1984, Johannesburg, South Africa, she currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Cachalia studied at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, UK, on a full scholarship. Upon returning to South Africa, Cachalia began studying toward a BA at The University of Cape Town (UCT), then transferred to UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art. She then took a hiatus from her studies to work in the Cape Town fashion industry, an experience which now is highly influential to her artistic practice. Returning to her academic studies, she graduated with a BA Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2012. In the same year, she participated in the Joburg Fringe, was a finalist in the ABSA L’Atelier Awards and received the Wits Top Achiever Award.  

Cachalia’s work is shaped by a tension between control and chaos. She works against an obsessive-compulsive inclination toward order—manifesting in a desire for even brushstrokes, balanced surfaces, and consistent paint application—by deliberately embracing mess, scribble, unevenness, and irresolution. She leaves strokes unfinished, allows surfaces to remain unresolved, and resists the urge to correct or perfect.

For Cachalia, painting is a space where she can relinquish control, allowing chaos to flow rather than be contained. This resistance to perfection extends to her subject matter, which explores psychological complexity, emotional instability, and imperfect states of being, particularly as they relate to femininity. Her body of work often centres on female portraits inspired by popular media, framing imperfection and disorder not as failure but as a form of truth.

In 2023, Cachalia participated in the group exhibition Green Fuse at Graham Contemporary in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2021, Cachalia presented an independent exhibition at Lemonade Studios titled Pulp. From 2014 to 2019, she worked in the art industry as a gallery manager and art evaluator.

In 2014, she took part in the group exhibition The XMAS Show at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa; PAINT I: Contemporary South African Painting 2002–2012 at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa in 2012. In 2013, Cachalia presented work at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and the FNB Joburg Art Fair, both with SMAC Gallery, and held the solo exhibition Don’t Jump Off Bridge at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa.