NO. 257 | BEARDED SEALS, WHALES, AND UNDER GLACIERS WITH JESSICA MALLIOS
PSO is excited to present this collaboration with Jessica Mallios. In May 2025, Jessica joined a group of artists traveling to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean aboard an ice-class expedition sailing vessel. Once there, Jessica made drawings, audio recordings, and photographs.
For PSO, Jessica supplied two audio recordings and a stunning image of a glacier. One track of audio captures the otherworldly songs of bearded seals along with whale song, while the other is the steady trickle from a melting glacier. I layered bass synth and cosmic lap steel to create a surreal underwater rodeo.
Pieces from this body of work were recently on view as a part of Hydrological Landscapes, at Albemarle College in North Carolina. Through collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, and multimedia, this exhibition brought together four artists' individual experiences and presents new ways of understanding our changing contemporary landscape. Mallios combined an underwater audio recording of oceanic mammal sounds and glacial melt with a drawing produced through frottage at Dahlbreen Glacier, where she used graphite and paper to index the glacier's movement by recording the bedrock striations carved by its immense weight and motion. Together, the works render the Arctic environment through its traces—subglacial sound and inscribed stone—foregrounding the act of recording as both witness and translation.
For PSO, Jessica supplied two audio recordings and a stunning image of a glacier. One track of audio captures the otherworldly songs of bearded seals along with whale song, while the other is the steady trickle from a melting glacier. I layered bass synth and cosmic lap steel to create a surreal underwater rodeo.
Pieces from this body of work were recently on view as a part of Hydrological Landscapes, at Albemarle College in North Carolina. Through collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, and multimedia, this exhibition brought together four artists' individual experiences and presents new ways of understanding our changing contemporary landscape. Mallios combined an underwater audio recording of oceanic mammal sounds and glacial melt with a drawing produced through frottage at Dahlbreen Glacier, where she used graphite and paper to index the glacier's movement by recording the bedrock striations carved by its immense weight and motion. Together, the works render the Arctic environment through its traces—subglacial sound and inscribed stone—foregrounding the act of recording as both witness and translation.
ABOUT JESSICA MALLIOS
Jessica Mallios is an artist and educator based in San Marcos, TX. She earned an MFA from Bard College and is an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University. Her work is guided by an abiding interest in the physicality of light and space, explored through photographic, time-based, and installation practices. Her research-based approach responds to sites and structures of cultural and architectural significance. Select exhibitions include Women & Their Work in Austin, TX; Higher Pictures in New York, NY; The Contemporary Austin in Austin, TX; Oregon Contemporary in Portland, OR; The Center for Ongoing Research & Projects in Columbus, OH; Artpace in San Antonio, TX; Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX; and the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, TX. Her work has been featured in Artforum, Art Ltd, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, and Whitewall Magazine, among other publications. Mallios was an artist-in-residence at The Arctic Circle, Artist and Scientist Expeditionary Residency Program in Svalbard, Norway (2025), Atelier Siegele Artist Residency in Darmstadt, Germany (2022), Ströndin Studio in Seydisfjördur, Iceland (2020), Artpace in San Antonio, TX (2014), and Can Serrat in El Bruc, Spain (2008).
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