[11] In one of her early works, possibly her best known, the cover art for the 1977 single release of "Orgasm Addict" by the punk band Buzzcocks,[12] the collage depicts a naked woman with an iron for a head and grinning mouths instead of nipples.

I took the female form from both sets of magazines and made these peculiar jigsaws highlighting these various cultural monstrosities that I felt there were at the time.

"[14]Rolling Stone described Sterling's work as "subversive photomontages which splice images from consumer culture and glossy glamour magazines".

[11] Sterling's work has been the subject of numerous international solo exhibitions, including those at the Tate Museum St. Ives,[4] Nottingham Contemporary,[15] Kestnergesellschaft,[4] among others.

The Bower of Bliss, her first large-scale public art piece in London, consisted of an 85-metre long street-level photomontage billboard and a cover commission for the 29th edition of the pocket Tube map.

Sterling's distinctive vocal quality and techniques (including screaming, unusual sounds and laughter) combined with her lyrics, focused on female desire, alienation, sexual politics and gender roles.

[8] Sterling is a long time friend of The Smiths lead singer, Morrissey, since they met at a Sex Pistols sound check in Manchester in 1976.