Ian Hamilton FinlayMidway II 1977

The American defeat of Japan at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was one of the decisive moments in the war in the Pacific. Finlay represents the aircraft carriers as beehives, fuelling their warriors with honey
and sending them out to attack the enemy hive. The rosebushes represent the vast distance of ocean that separated the rival fleets, which never came into sight of each other. The accompanying print uses Latin text to commemorate the ships that perished in the battle. Finlay associates Latin with the epic nature of warfare.