E. M. Forster’s famous phrase, “Only connect…,” appears as a talisman on the title page of his novel "Howard’s End" (1921). The phrase was imparted from a longer passage:

“Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.”

Forester prophesized the modern society. Communication is construed through social media and zoom while people hide behind a screen in physical isolation. It is the antithesis of the moral message in "Howard’s End", which hails connections with one another and the relationships that blossom from them as ascension from man’s self-incurred tutelage to the nirvana of knowledge.

In Finlay’s work, “Only connect” becomes both an injunction and an appeal to think – to imagine – associatively and tie the broken “fragments” of experience back into meaning. “Only connect” is the guide to Finlay’s work as an artist, his relationship with nature as a gardener, and his interpretation of literary text as a poet. The quote alludes to the invisible interruptions that impede our ability to correspond in modern life. Finlay forms a direct, philosophical reference to the detrimental, enduring effects of today’s networking impact on human advancement and fulfillment.