Grace Miller House in Palm Springs is an early building by Richard Neutra, completed in 1937. The second ‘desert Modern’ house built in Palm Springs, and now the earliest surviving example, it was built for Grace Miller, a dance therapist. This small gem of a house had fallen into disrepair when Hartley first photographed it in 2001. It has now been beautifully restored, but whereas it was once an isolated retreat, it is now part of Palm Springs’ suburban sprawl.

Born in 1963, Alex Hartley has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally at venues including KØS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Koge, Denmark (2019); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017); Contemporary Arts Centre, Ohio, US (2014); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2013); Fundación Canal, Madrid (2008); and The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2001). In 2017, the artist’s work featured in the Yokohama Triennale while the monumental, site-specific installation Wall was on view as part of the Folkestone Triennial until November of the same year. In 2013, Hartley undertook a residency with the National Trust for Scotland.