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‘From Saint to Santa’, Wembley Park Image credit: Chris Winter / Wembley Park
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‘From Saint to Santa’, Wembley Park Image credit: Chris Winter / Wembley Park
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‘From Saint to Santa’, Wembley Park Image credit: Chris Winter / Wembley Park
Exhibition
From Saint to Santa
7 Dec 2024 – 10 Jan 2025
Regular hours
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Monday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Wednesday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 10:00 – 18:00
Free admission
Address
- Wembley Park
- London
England - HA9 0AS
- United Kingdom
London’s most exciting new neighbourhood has put the big man himself under the spotlight in From Saint to Santa, with 32 artworks, including an original AI-generated one, tracking the history of Santa Claus and its influences.
About
A free festive photography exhibition exploring the evolution of Father Christmas has returned to Wembley Park due to popular demand. The outdoor From Saint to Santa exhibition first opened in 2023, as part of Wembley Park’s free public Art Trail. Now, it has returned to delight visitors of all ages throughout the 2024 festive period.
The exhibition explores the emergence of the modern Santa Claus from roots that span Norse Yule celebrations, the Roman Saturnalia festival and Christianity’s Saint Nicholas. It travels through early spirituality and the Reformation to the jollier Santa figure we recognise today. The images also pay heed to some of Santa Claus’ less cheery companions, from the demon-like Krampus who seizes naughty children in central Europe to Knecht Ruprecht from German folklore who reprimands ill-behaved children with his staff or a bag of ashes.
Wending its way through history, the outdoor photography exhibition looks at how two distinct figures – Father Christmas and Santa Claus – merged into one and where characteristics such as the famous red suit, rosy cheeks, gift-giving and reindeer-pulled flying sleigh originated. It shows the impact that authors such as Washing Irving and Clement Clarke Moore, and artists such as Thomas Nast and Norman Rockwell, have had in turning a serious, saintly figure into someone altogether jollier.
The evolution of Santa’s treatment in consumer culture goes under the microscope as part of the new exhibition as well, including the role that advertising and modern popular culture have played in shaping today’s Santa iconography.
Embracing Wembley Park’s tradition of celebrating diversity and global unity through art, the exhibition explores how Santa is represented in non-Western cultures, demonstrating the universal appeal and adaptability of this cherished figure. In addition, it probes into the future of Santa Claus, pondering the influence of emerging technologies and evolving cultural perspectives and sensitivities on this timeless character.
