Nick Hedges’ remarkable photographs for Shelter in the late 1960s and early 1970s were instrumental in changing both public and official attitudes towards a housing crisis that shamed one of the richest nations in the world. They are an essential record of the indifference of government to tackle a problem that had persisted for generations and still, to this day, blights society.

Generations of children grew up in the environment of desolation, decay, and demolition. Hedges’ photographs from Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle illustrate the playing fields of the cities. The strong working class community cultures were being broken down, as regular employment became less certain, families became dispersed, and old certainties vanished.

Hardcover, 156 pages
27 x 29cm