Little Sparta

by Alec Finlay, Robin Gillanders (Photographer)

Since September 1993, Robin Gillanders has been photographing the neo-classical garden of internationally renowned artist, Ian Hamilton Finlay. The Garden, Little Sparta, at Dunsyre in the Pentland Hills, is a modern conception of a classical garden with sculptures, stone inscriptions and other artifacts placed within the landscape. Robin Gillanders' beautiful photographs are a personal response to this remarkable environment, composed over a number of years and through different seasons, during which he familiarized himself with the garden's topography and Finlay's poetry and thought. As he came to know the place, there is a growing spiritual and imaginative response and, with this, a sense of permission to explore the landscape on his own terms. This sense of possibilities opening before him echoes Finlay's observation: A garden is not an object but a process. In celebration of this composition, the National Galleries of Scotland are publishing a limited hardcover edition of Robin Gillanders' photographs accompanied by Ian Hamilton Finlay's thoughts on gardening and a unique conversation with him about the creation of Little Sparta.

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Alec Finlay (b. 1960) is a Scottish poet and artist whose work crosses over a range of media and forms. In 2020 he received a Cholmondeley Award for services to poetry. His I remember: Scotland's Covid Memorial was completed in 2022. Publications include I remember (2022), description (2022), a far off land (2018), and gathering (2018). A collected shorter poems, play my game, was published by Stewed Rhubarb in 2023.