Lysaght credits an art teacher she met at Tauranga Girls' College, Claudia Jarman, with encouraging her passion to become an artist.
[1] At age 15 she was committed to the secure psychiatric institution Oakley Hospital, as she was considered not in 'full control'.
[2] In 1987 Lysaght started working as a full-time artist, and had her first solo exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt called Out of the Woodwork, an installation of found furniture customised by painting on it, titled to also mark her coming out as a lesbian.
[3] Lysaght has been described as one of New Zealand's foremost social conscience artists, her works being often concerned with issues such as disability, poverty and mental illness.
[4] She has worked with mental health patients, elderly people in nursing homes, council housing tenants, and between 1984 and 1986 Lysaght helped set up an art programme at Arohata Women's Prison.