Making History: Art and Documentary in Britain from 1929 to Now
3 February  –  23 April 2006
Making History
Art and Documentary in Britain from 1929 to Now
Section 2: Looking at Britain
 
Nick Hedges b. 1943
Mother and children, Balsall Heath 1969
Nick Hedges, Mother and children, Balsall Heath, 1969 © Courtesy of Birmingham Central Library
© Courtesy of Birmingham Central Library

Hedges' work continues the tradition of socially committed documentary photography in Britain established in the 1930s and 40s. His seminal photographs for charitable organisations such as Shelter and MENCAP evidence hardship and poverty in the margins of 1950s and 60s society, providing an important historical document of the everyday lives of the disadvantaged, economically or otherwise, from the period. The works embody an impassioned sense of social purpose, a desire to confront reality and lay it bare to a wider audience.