After serving as a soldier in W.W. II, Ian Hamilton Finlay developed severe agoraphobia—a fear of leaving the house. He lived as a recluse, working as a shepherd in Rousay, Scotland; he then began writing short stories and poems. In 1958, Finlay published his first book, The Sea Bed and Other Stories. As his agoraphobia worsened, he began inscribing his poems into stone and installing them, like tombstones, in his small garden near Edinburgh. Some works explored complex ideas. He once remarked on “an ironic parallel between this idea of natural paradise and the camouflage patterns on a tank.” Other times, more controversially, he used Nazi symbols to critique the establishment. Finlay died in 2006, at 80. This exhibition examines his groundbreaking oeuvre. —Elena Clavarino