https://www.instagram.sarahannant

I am an artist and photographer based in London. My practice began in the documentary tradition, which I continue to explore and expand through experimental and collaborative approaches. I recognise the diverse expressive possibilities of photography and strive to develop my practice conceptually and formally using analogue, digital and alternative processes. My research explores the intersections of photography and magic. I investigate the camera as a magical object, the photograph’s materiality, and how the photographic image can convey aspects of the magical imagination. Born in England, I studied Art in the Social Context at Dartington College of Arts 1984, Documentary Photography at Newport Art College 1988 and MA Transnational Art at UAL 2010.

Recent awards: Winner 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Award: Alternative Processes Series, Winner 18th Pollux Awards: Alternative Processes, Runner-up 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Award: Alternative Processes, Winner 17th Pollux Awards: Alternative Processes. Selected Best of Show International Photography Awards 2021, IPA Jury Top 5 and Country Pick: United Kingdom, IPA 2nd Place in the Professional Analog/Film, Other, Runner-up 17th Julia Margaret Cameron Award: Alternative Processes, Honourable Mention PX3 Prix de la Photographie 2021, Siena Creative Photo Awards and Winner 16th Pollux Awards: Alternative Processes.

My work has been supported by Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund. Books include Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids: A Journey Through the English Ritual Year (2011) and Of Shadows: One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic with Simon Costin (2016). I have exhibited widely including at The Royal Society of Arts, Christie’s, Horniman Museum and Towner Gallery. My photographs have been featured on the BBC, Zeit, Atlas Obscura and The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The British Journal of Photography, among others. I am a visiting lecturer at City, University of London.

‘Sara Hannant shows a keen eye for the unexpected but never allows that to detract from her subjects.  Some of the images have a spontaneous immediacy while others introduce more depth and measured aesthetic – unfussy and beautifully shot.’ Gervase Gordon, London Art.

Recent and forthcoming Exhibitions

2023 A State of Consciousness ProfiFoto@Arles, Galerie La Grande Vitrine, Arles, France
2023 The Royal Photographic Society International Exhibition (IPE) 164, Bristol 
2022 7th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography and 3rd Barcelona Foto Biennale, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona 
2022 Trans-States: The Art of Deception, University of Northampton
2022 IPA Best of Show, House of Lucie, Budapest
2022 Your Body Belongs to You, St Gilles Croix de Vie, France
2022 Postcards from Europe, Art at the ARB, Alison Richard Building, University of Cambridge
2021 Unsettling Landscapes: The Art of the Eerie, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington, Hampshire 
2021 Shutter Hub Open 2021, St Margaret’s House, London
2021 Salon/21, Photofusion, London
2021 Shutter Hub Open 2020/21, Gallery 5&33 and Art’otel Amsterdam
2021 Postcards from Great Britain, Bergen up Zoom, The Netherlands
2020 The Seasons: Art of the Unfolding Year, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington, Hampshire 
2020 Postcards from Great Britain, Vlieger Thieffrystraat, Brussels, Belgium
2020 Postcards from Great Britain, Hotel Lion d’Or, Haarlem, The Netherlands
2020 Enchanted Environments: Eco-Criticism and Folklore Studies, Art House, Worcester
2019-20 Everyday Delight, Free Space Project, London 
2019 13th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona
2019 Trans-States: The Art of Revelation, University of Northampton
2019 Artist installation, Magickal Women Conference, Baden Powell House, London
2019 Lunation, Charlton House, London (solo)
2019 Women Photographers Now, Valid Foto Gallery, Barcelona
2019 12th Pollux Awards, Valid Foto Gallery, Barcelona
2018-19 Women in Focus, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cardiff
2018-19 The Shutter Hub Open Old Truman Brewery, London, 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam
2018 Because We Can! Pil’ours International Festival, Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, France
2018 Time and Tradition, Time Unwrapped 2018, Kings Place, London
2017-18 The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in London, The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History, London
2017 Salon/17, Photofusion, London
2011-17 Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids: A Journey Through the English Ritual Year. (Solo) Horniman Museum touring exhibition of my work exploring ancient and modern seasonal customs throughout the country that mark the changing year. Horniman Museum, London, Cecil Sharp House, London, Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, Forty Hall, London, Museum of Oxford and The Beacon Museum, Cumbria

Collections

Horniman Museum, London
Museum of British Folklore, UK
Westminster Arts Council, London
Royal Brompton and Harefield Arts, London
Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Arts and Natural History, London
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cardiff

Recent Awards and Nominations

2022 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Alternative Processes Series, Winner
2022 18th Pollux Awards, Alternative Processes, Series, Winner
2022 The Photographers’ Gallery partial bursary for Greener Photography
2022 17th Pollux Awards, Alternative Processes, Series, Winner
2022 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Alternative Processes, Series, Runner-up
2021 17th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Alternative Processes, Series, Runner-up
2021 Selected Best of Show International Photography Awards, IPA Jury Top 5 and Country Pick: United Kingdom
2021 International Photography Awards, Professional Analog/Film, Other, 2nd Place
2021 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Alternative Processes, Series, Runner-up
2021 PX3 – Prix de la Photographie, Paris, Fine Art, Nature, Honourable Mention
2020 15th Pollux Awards, Alternative Processes Series, Winner
2020 International Photography Awards (Lucie), Honourable Mention 
2020 Siena Creative Photo Awards 2020, Shortlist
2019 The Royal Photographic Society Hundred Heroines: Nominated
2019 National Lottery Heritage Fund, Photography Project Grant, Lunation, Moon Festival 2019
2019 British Photography Awards, Documentary Photography, Shortlist
2019 British Life Photography Awards 2018, Urban Life, Documentary Series, and Photojournalism, Shortlist
2017 The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award, Book Shortlist
2015 Lens Culture Earth Award, Selected
2013 International Photo Awards, Photography Book of the Year, Honourable Mention  
2012 Katharine Briggs Folklore Award, Book Runner-up

Recent Talks/Academia

2010- ongoing Visiting lecturer at City, University of London
2019-21 Associate lecturer at London Metropolitan University
2021 Sky in Legend and Tradition, The Fifteenth Legendary Weekend of The Folklore Society, Medieval Hall, Salisbury
2020 Folk Horror III, Peer Hat, Manchester
2018 Enchanted Encounters: Reaffirming a Magical Heritage.  Art, Materiality and Representation. Royal Anthropological Association, British Museum, and SOAS, London
2017 Witchcraft, Magic, and Photography.  Contemporary Art and Scholarship on the Esoteric Traditions, New York University
2017 Strange Attractor Artist talk, Supernormal, Braziers Park, Oxfordshire
2017 Of Shadows: Strange Attractor Artist talk, The Horse Hospital, London
2017 Ladybird Cinderella: Your House is on Fire. All about Cinderella: retellings in the cultural imagination, University of Bedfordshire
2017 Numinous, Ritual ‘Litter’ Redressed: The heritage of contemporary deposits, University of Hertfordshire
2017 A Charmed Life – Fertility talismans, healing rituals and funeral tributes, Folklore from the Cradle to the Grave, University of Edinburgh.  
2017 London Fortean Society presents The Haunted Landscape: British Folklore and Ghosts, Conway Hall, London

Full CV available on request