Marisa Ballinger                          

Marisa Ballinger is a contemporary Australian artist based in Toowoomba, Queensland. A Ngiyampaa woman of Aboriginal, Scottish and German heritage, Marisa explores self-identity through the lens of her cross-cultural background, examining how personal and cultural stories shape her sense of self, place, and belonging. Deeply influenced by her Indigenous heritage, her work bridges tradition and innovation, weaving ancestral knowledge with contemporary experience.  Marisa creates a visual language that speaks to the complexity of living between worlds—neither fully one nor the other, but something entirely new and authentic to her own experience.

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Marisa draws on memory, experience, and the nuances of daily life to explore themes of personal, cultural, and creative rediscovery. She emphasizes the vital connection between artist, medium, and process, focusing on form, line, and meticulous technique. Marisa works across textiles, natural fibres, paper string, copper, clay, acrylic, and ink. Weaving is central to her practice, serving as a means of reconnecting with her heritage and conveying the stories that shape her identity and sense of place. Inspired by nature, she blends traditional and contemporary methods to explore form, space, light, and shadow. Her work reflects time, place, and existence, revealing both real and symbolic landscapes of human experience.
 

 

Marisa has exhibited in galleries across Australia including Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Cairns, as well as the Toowoomba Regional Gallery, the University of Southern Queensland, the Toowoomba Gallery and the Write Gallery. Recognised for her textile work, Marisa received the Local Excellence Award at the University of Southern Queensland’s Biennial Art Exhibition in 2024. In 2025, she was the winner of the Macquarie Emerging Artist Prize and the Fairholme Open Art Prize. Marisa also received a Highly Commended award in First Nations Art at the 2025  Queensland Regional Art Awards, with the work part of an exhibition that is touring Queensland during 2026.

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Her work is held in private collections throughout Australia.