Designing materially driven systems as a methodology to produce artworks, Vassallo combines rules, repetitious labour and serendipitous material textures when making artworks. Equal parts chance and conscious decision-making in the studio, rules dictate the composition, colours and density of her abstract artworks. While making, the artist considers the ambiguous nostalgic associations that her artworks can connect with and hopes that viewers will draw their own associations to this, prompted by the material qualities.

Since graduating from the Australian National University School of Art in 2010 with First Class Honours and a University Medal, Vassallo has gone on to exhibit widely throughout Australia. She has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including in 2022 the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, Jacaranda Acquisitive Art Award, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Goulburn Art Award and Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award. Her artworks are held by Artbank, Goulburn Regional Gallery and private collections throughout Australia and the USA.