Ian Hamilton Finlay Little Sparta and Collaborations, Photographs by Robin Gillanders

Between 1993 and 2006, Robin Gillanders made photographs of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s garden, ‘Little Sparta’ at Stonypath near Biggar in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.Throughout that period, he also collaborated with Finlay on several of his artist’s books, posters, and cards, and they gradually became close friends, up until Finlay’s death in 2006.As a Concrete Poet, Finlay is widely recognised as one of the most significant artists in the UK in the mid to late 20th Century, while art historian Sir Roy Strong has said of Little Sparta that it is "the only really original garden made in this country since 1945".

Robin Gillanders is former Reader in Photography at Edinburgh Napier University and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2016. He has several works in the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, City Art Centre, Edinburgh, the V&A, London and National Portrait Gallery, London. He has published six books including The Philosopher’s Garden (2004), Highland Journey: In the Spirit of Edwin Muir (2009), and Ian Hamilton Finlay: Little Sparta and Collaborations (2024).He has exhibited widely and internationally including the Prada Foundation, Venice, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.He had a major retrospective at Stills Gallery, Edinburgh in 2017/2018 and is co-editor of Studies in Photography.