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