This exhibition is a set of photographs of tenement life in Glasgow between 1969 and 1972, taken by Nick Hedges for Shelter. I would love to see the whole exhibition, as, from looking at the selection on Shelter's website it is an incredible body of work.
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| Mother living with her children in an overcrowded single end tenement flat Glasgow 1971 |
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| Mother takes her baby inside her condemned tenement block Gorbals 1970 |
Looking at them made me reflect, both on my own childhood and on current issues:
The children in these pictures are of my generation but what a different start in life to mine, how much harder to realise potential, to achieve health, education, even a secure roof over ones head.
This lead me to think of what the current government is doing, what divisions it is encouraging, nay even enforcing on society today - is this stratified society what we want to exist as the norm?
We need to WAKE UP and act, we need to STOP a generation of children being consinged to the scrap heap of life.
Each and every life in this country has value, has EQUAL value, with every other life. That is why I believe a taxation system in both it's giving and taking should be helping those that have less, those that are struggling, those that have ill health - to promote, increase and maintain the equality that we all have a right to. Equality of health, education, opportunity, safety and self determination. The basic Human Rights.
A different set of photographs from the same collection, when the collection visited Bradford a year ago:
