Trace Balla

Trace Balla lives on Djaara Country, South Eastern Australia. She creates graphic novels and children’s books about connecting with Country and community.
A self-described ‘story catcher,’ she finds inspiration in nature and incorporates local plant and animal species into her detailed, cartoon-style drawings.
Her ancestors come from Hungary, England and France - from them she has inherited a love of dance and artistic creativity. Trace loves to rise at dawn, especially when it’s frosty, and walk up hills above the fog line to marvel at the dawn light. Her latest graphic novel is Treeshape, an extraordinary, inspiring and hope-filled graphic novel memoir. It reveals her personal and life-changing experiences of place, her understanding of the natural world and her relationship to Country.