Sanné Mestrom’s playable sculptures explore ideas of female representation in Western art, particularly modernism, through the personal lens of motherhood. Her work responds to the physical transformation of the maternal body, reimagining it as a site of shared utility, discovery and beauty. Through abstracted bodily forms, Mestrom advocates for sculpture that invites intergenerational, open-ended play—encouraging curiosity, imagination and resilience, particularly in children.
Born in the Netherlands in 1979, Mestrom moved to New Zealand in 1983 and to Australia in 1998. She holds a PhD and a Masters in Public Art from RMIT University and currently lives in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Her work has featured in major exhibitions including The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Her Parts (National Gallery of Australia, 2025), Solar Cry (Sullivan + Strumpf, 2024), and From Will to Form (TarraWarra Museum of Art, 2018). Her sculptures are held in the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Gallery of Australia and the MCA.
Mestrom won the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2017) and the John Fries Memorial Prize (2011). She has undertaken residencies in Seoul and Mexico City and regularly contributes to the arts through talks, panels and public commissions.
"Thrilled to be invited to judge the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize alongside an incredible panel - I won this prize in 2017 on the eve of my son's birth, and the prize enabled the entire next chapter of my life, so it's such an honour to now help champion other sculptors - forging their way through art and life - and contribute to this important platform for contemporary sculpture."