Chadwick studied at Brighton Polytechnic and then at the Chelsea School of Art.
She has often been identified as a feminist, with several of her works addressing the role and image of woman in society.
Her work often used organic materials, such as meat, flowers and chocolate. She is perhaps most famous for Piss Flowers (1991-92), bronze sculptures cast from patterns made in the snow by her urinating there.
Earlier works include Viral Landscapes, a series of photographs from the late 1980s where blotches (actually magnified images of cellss from her body) are superimposed over landscapes, and Meat Abstracts (1989) large photographs of meat juxtaposed with leather and fabric.
Among her last works are a series of photographs of dead human embryos.
Chadwick was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1987. She died in 1996 from a heart attack.