If It Jiggles, Show It Off...
Sarah Brown on art, grief, and loving the skin you’re In.
Sarah Brown doesn’t just preach body love—she performs it, photographs it, lives it, and shines a big, hot spotlight on it. As a boudoir photographer, performer, and self-described hype woman, Sarah has spent the past 15 years turning the lens toward the kind of radical self-acceptance that flips the bird at outdated beauty standards.
Her art is activism. Her body is her canvas. And her voice? A fearless blend of brutal honesty and cheeky rebellion.
“Now, I no longer give a flying f** what anyone thinks about my body, and I want to help other women feel the same freedom.”*
Sarah’s story is one of reinvention. Battling a relentless eating disorder until the age of 33, she knows the cost of body shame. Growing up in the toxic culture of the 2000s—“If you weren’t thin like Britney Spears or rocking tight hip-huggers, you were considered ‘disgusting,’”—left its mark. But healing, she says, changed everything.
“My life is dedicated to empowering women and breaking the cycle of societal hatred toward women’s bodies.”
Since 2020, Sarah’s boudoir practice has become part photo shoot, part therapy session. “I’m part stylist, part counsellor, part confidant, part hype woman, part friend, and just a tad bit your photographer.” It’s work that’s as intimate as it is transformative, and she’s endlessly grateful to the hundreds of women who have trusted her with their bodies and souls.
But her magic goes beyond the studio. As a performer and burlesque artist, she uses her own body to challenge shame and invite joy. “I am a 37-year-old woman with a body touched by carrying a 9-pound legend… I’m showing women that they too are allowed to love themselves and their lives, just as they are.”
Of course, Sarah’s road hasn’t been easy. She’s faced rejection, mental health battles, chronic pain, and unimaginable grief.
“There is not enough time or paper to go over all the struggles I have faced… The loss of my beautiful mother Cate to ovarian cancer in 2022 is one of the toughest things I have experienced. I miss her every single day.”
In the early months of that loss, Sarah turned to alcohol. “I was drunk every night for the first 7 months and then had to learn to live with the pain.” Now, she speaks openly about grief and mental health—including her experience with bipolar disorder and a mental breakdown last year. “Every time I shared online, someone would reach out thanking me, asking for advice, or looking for help themselves.”
She also lives with chronic nerve pain, which affects her speech and cognitive clarity. “I will be thinking something, but the words will escape me… I try not to think about it too much because otherwise I don’t know how I would cope. I am simply always in pain.”
And yet, Sarah continues to show up—for her work, her art, her community. For the women who need to see someone doing it messy and magnificently all at once.
“Authenticity is key. Honesty is a necessity. You need to be fearless in the process of your pursuits. I am always myself online, and so therefore I hope to encourage other women to be themselves too.”
Sarah was this year’s runner-up for The Just Saying Project’s Magic Muse Award—a title that barely captures her full force. She’s a mother, wife, artist, businesswoman, and friend who lifts women off the floor and reminds them what they're made of.
“If I see something wonderful in someone, I’ll make sure to say it. I genuinely want you to succeed. When I was younger, I sometimes saw other women as competition. But now? I want you to thrive.”
Visit SarahHearts Photography