Nick Hedges was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1943. He studied photography at Birmingham College of Art from 1965 to 1968, and as a final project he worked with Birmingham Housing Trust on an exhibition about the city’s badly housed.
On leaving college, Shelter employed Hedges to document the oppressive and abject living conditions being experienced in poor quality housing in the UK. On his visits to cities including Glasgow, Salford, Bradford, Liverpool and Newcastle, Hedges captured astonishing scenes of families negotiating life in slums.
In Hedges’ belief, photographers should work on projects to support the reformation and improvement of society, and through his photographs, he hoped to help raise consciousness about the extent of unfit living conditions.
Living accommodation hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969
In a hostel for the homeless Dartmouth Park, 1969
Child playing in the courtyard of a homeless hostel, London, 1969
Doorstep conversation, Brent, 1969
Dormitory of hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969
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