Born 1966, Scotland

Alec Finlay is an internationally recognised artist, poet and publisher. The son of the Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay. Much of Alec Finlay’s work explores our interaction with nature and his practice involves a wide range of activity, his work taking many different forms and media ranging from sculpture, collage, poetry and creations using new technologies. He places great emphasis on collaboration involving other artists and makers as well as those who commission works, all feeding from the creative experience and sharing authorship.

He has exhibited widely including at Tate Britain, the ICA London, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds Art Gallery, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead and the Bluecoat Centre in Liverpool. In 2012 he completed a commission for the 18^th Biennial of Sydney.

Finlay’s passion for the landscape and nature and the benefits of being immersed in them for health and wellbeing has led to his new project in begun in 2019 when he organised a Day of Access in Scotland for people with chronic illness, infirmity or disability. Using off-road vehicles the participants were ferried to inspiring wild places hitherto inaccessible to them and their experiences documented in photographs, drawings and poems which formed part of a travelling exhibition. He is hoping to find partners in 2020 to provide similar Days of Access throughout the UK.

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