Sally Hewett's Embroidered Bodies Challenge Beauty Norms

Sally Hewett, a sculptor from Canterbury, Kent, uses embroidery hoops to create sculptural works depicting female body parts—breasts, buttocks, bellies, and pubic areas—often marked by cellulite, stretch marks, scars, and hair. Trained at the Kent Institute of Art and Design (graduated 2003), she wrote her thesis on body hair and debris in art. A member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, she began exhibiting only about twelve years ago, including at EroticaMente in Milan in 2014. Her practice combines traditional needlework with feminist and humanist critiques of contemporary obsessions with perfect bodies and plastic surgery. She transforms perceived flaws into soft, padded forms that celebrate imperfection and healthy eroticism.