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.
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| Living accommodation hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969 |
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| In a hostel for the homeless Dartmouth Park, 1969 |
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| Child playing in the courtyard of a homeless hostel, London, 1969 |
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| Doorstep conversation, Brent, 1969 |
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| Dormitory of hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969 |
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| Dormitory of hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969 |
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| Children gossiping on the roof of their tenement block, Wandsworth, 1969 |
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| Children gossiping on the roof of their tenement block, Wandsworth, 1969 |
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| Mother and son in foul kitchen basement, Battersea, 1970 |
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| An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970 |
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| An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970 |
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| An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970 |
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| Living in a single room, North London, 1970 |
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| Child on balcony of her tenement block, Southwark, 1970 |
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| Child dreaming on balcony of her tenement block, Southwark, 1970 |
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| Kitchen of a basement flat, Wandsworth, 1970 |
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| Lambeth, 1970 |
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| Elderly single man in his basement flat, Lambeth, 1970 |
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| Elderly single man in his basement flat, Lambeth, 1970 |
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| Courtyard of Chaucer House Hostel for the Homeless, South London, 1971 |
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| Courtyard of Chaucer House Hostel for the Homeless, South London, 1971 |
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| Mother, child, and kitten living in slum property, North London, 1971 |
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| Mother and toddler living in overcrowded housing, South London, 1971 |
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| Father and child in a hostel for the homeless, London, 1971 |
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| Mother and her children living in temporary accommodation, South London, 1971 |
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| Single mum living in a single room, Notting Hill, 1972 |
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| Single mum living in a single room, Notting Hill, 1972 |
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| Kitchen on a Brixton staircase, London, 1972 |
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| Mother living in one bedroom flat, Tottenham, 1972 |
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| Single mum living in one room, Tottenham, 1972 |
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| Single mum living in one room, Tottenham, 1972 |
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| Mother and daughter living in poor housing, Brixton, 1972 |
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| Married couple and family living in overcrowded flat, South London, 1972 |
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| Young family living in one room, South London, 1972 |