Malay Makakazuwan, a Puyumayan artist from the Pinaski community, Taitung, grew up with her mumu (grandparents) and younger brother in Pinaski. Makakazuwan's parents are the first generation of urban indigenous in her family. Her father became a career soldier after graduating from the military academy. Her mother went to Taipei to study in a nursing program and moved to Hualien to work in a hospital until now. After junior high school, Makakazuwan moved to Hualien to live with her mother. During that time, she came back and forth between Hualien and her hometown, and such experiences have provided her a lot of inspiration in art.

She finished her art education in senior high schools from Kaohsiung and Taipei. After graduation, Makakazuwan worked for a design company in Taipei, where she faced stereotypes and discrimination against indigenous peoples. At the same time, she felt upset that she failed to express feelings through illustrations and graphic design on such oppression

Therefore, she decided to study Ethnic Relations and Culture at Dong Hwa University. She gained an identity when she found her story resonated with the indigenous history she learned from college.

She believes that creativity lies in the process of finding a self-identity. And a self-identity is found by contrasting one's life experience with artworks that are based on legends, oral history, and made of natural material, plants that once existed within an ethnic group.