Marisa Ballinger                          

Marisa Ballinger is a contemporary Australian artist based in Toowoomba, Queensland. Of Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan descent with Scottish and German ancestry, she explores identity through the lens of her cross-cultural background. Her practice intertwines personal experience and ancestral histories, exploring "the in-between"—a space that is neither fully one nor the other, but entirely new and authentic to her. Through her art, she maps the stories that shape her sense of self, place, and belonging.

 

Grounded in the deep connection between artist, medium, and process, Marisa works across textiles, natural fibres, paper, string, copper, clay, acrylic, and ink. Weaving remains central to her interdisciplinary practice, which blends traditional and contemporary methods to investigate form, space, and light. Her work references memory, time, place, and culture, bringing forward the histories embedded in her heritage, and reveals both the tangible and symbolic landscapes of human existence.

 

Marisa has exhibited nationally, including in  Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and several regional Queensland galleries. 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 won the Macquarie Emerging Artist Prize and the Fairholme Open Art Prize. Additionally, she received a Highly Commended award in First Nations Art at the 2025 Queensland Regional Art Awards, with the work part of an exhibition touring Queensland in 2026. Marisa held a major solo exhibition at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba in 2026, and her work is held in private collections throughout Australia.