Alexandra Hedison is known for her abstracted and surreal photographs of landscapes and interiors. In 2014, she began photographing exterior storefront windows in Paris that had been painted over to conceal the interior space that was either abandoned or in transition.

Hedison found a happenstance beauty in these “found paintings” that have a fresco like surface. Brushstrokes of swirled paint are scratched and pock-marked by the workers inside who unintentionally scrape away the paint as they brush past the glass. Each mark serves as a record of time and transition and every day these facades shift a bit revealing what is taking place within. Often the reflection of adjacent architecture or tree lined sidewalks are reflected on the surface of the glass revealing a city in motion and the lives of its inhabitants.

Conceptually the found paintings become a metaphor for shifting identity with a direct dialogue about Paris as a city deeply etched by the forces of old and new, remembered and forgotten, perpetually in transition.

Alexandra Hedison was born in Los Angeles, California in 1969. She has exhibited in Europe and the U.S. Her work is in public and private collections including Barclay’s Capital, CQ Global and Participant Media. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.