Tessel's practice emerges through vibrant colors, deep contrasts, and figurative abstract forms, merging bodies and spaces with each other. Her paintings visualize human connection with the natural world, reflecting that nature is animate and can be found in both our surroundings and within. By transcending this the experience of separation as we have come to know in the anthropocene, Tessel aims to dissolve boundaries between bodies, with a particular focus on female bodies and bodies of water. Mindful connection to the self and our inner 'natural wilderness' is also a continuous exploration in her figurative work.

With a background in human rights and climate change studies, Tessel has made female bodily autonomy and water important themes in her work, inviting the viewer to look differently at social roles and perceived realities through each depiction.