Panic: Visions of The Horned God in the English Country Garden

An Exhibition of Photographs by Sara Hannant, with a closing presentation by Professor Ronald Hutton.
 

Location:
State51, 8-10 Rhoda St, London E2 7EF

Viewing times:
17, 18, 19 October: 11am-5pm.

Closing event:
20 October 7pm-9pm
A presentation 'On Pan' by Professor Ronald Hutton.

Tickets for this presentation are free, but please book here

This exhibition is part of London Photomonth

Wild and exciting, the Greek god Pan induces both fear and awe; at times he is dangerous, stirring panic and creating pandemonium. His name, coincidentally, means ‘all’.

Often depicted as a satyr, with the lower body and legs of a goat and a human torso and horned head, this half-man, half-goat represents a fusion of human and non-human. Pan was originally worshipped in the caves and forests of ancient Greek Arcadia as the protective deity of shepherds. In Roman mythology, he is identified with Faunus, a nature god, and Silvanus, a woodland deity.

Sara Hannant’s dreamlike images, made in camera, evoke the untamed and mystical qualities of the Great God Pan and his equivalents. Hannant takes us on a magical journey through England’s gardens and parks, giving us insights into how the Horned God has manifested within classical and contemporary sculpture. Most of these mythological statues were selected by the social elite during their Grand Tour of Europe.

Captured since 2024, Hannant’s photographs investigate the role of Pan as a personification of nature, fertility and the wild. They are a kind of invocation, calling the deity to move through the work into creative expression. She explores Pan not as a patriarchal figure, but as a guardian of the sublime and an archetype of lost innocence and liberation. When the Victorians saw the environment as fragile and threatened by industrialisation and urbanisation, the Horned God symbolised a reunion with the natural world. Now, in our climate emergency, Pan returns, rousing us to recognise our own place within nature.

Of Shadows, Sara Hannant's book of photographs from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, was published by Strange Attractor Press in 2016.

Closing event – Professor Ronald Hutton, On Pan
Join us on Monday 20 October, 7pm-9pm, for an in person presentation by Professor Ronald Hutton, who will talk on Pan in the ancient world. Tickets for this presentation are free, but please book here
 

A book featuring Sara Hannant’s photographs and texts by Simon Costin, Sara Hannant and Ronald Hutton will be available from Strange Attractor Press in Spring 2026.