Make Life Worth Living: Nick Hedges for Shelter at the Science Museum.

A while ago, I was lucky enough to visit Nick Hedges' exhibition for Shelter at the Science Museum in London.
This was a free exhibition and we were so lucky we came across it, as I had no idea it was on! It was one of the most moving, thought provoking exhibitions I've ever seen! Seriously, we had discussions around the dinner table about it for days afterwards!

 "The thing about people living in slum housing is that there is no drama... It's about the absolute wearing down of people's morale in a quiet and undemonstrative way."

Nick Hedges   

The images hanging in this exhibition were taken between 1962 and 1978, mainly in the North of England and had been restricted from view for 40 years to protect the anonymity of their subjects.
The photographs captured life in the slums and tenements of Northern Britain; areas which were often forgotten and left to rot and decay by governments and officials. I guess it was easier to ignore.
Then, the charity Shelter (who aim to help and advise the homeless and poorly housed, whilst trying to tackle the causes of these situations) sent in photographer Nick Hedges, just 25 at the time and having just graduated from Birmingham College of Art, where his final project was based around the city's badly housed.

It was Nick's job to expose the terrible conditions that these people were living in; to make people stop and take notice and to get the authorities to do something about it.

http://lomokev.com/page/3/

Some images had excerpts next to them, written by Nick himself on the stories behind them. It gave a real humanity to the images, made the people in them seem more real. And most of these stories were harrowing.
One particular image and story which stays with me is the story of Mrs H. who, whilst living in a run-down tenement with her husband and baby boy and which had been deserted by all other families, one morning awoke to the noise and destruction of a demolition team in the process of knocking down the building. Mrs H ran out to stop the demolition; her baby was inside. The team replied that they thought the building was empty. After all, it was uninhabitable.

Mrs. H, Nick Hedges 1968-72

There were stories of government officials declaring lived-in dwellings unfit 'for human habitation' stories of families having to cook a meagre dinner on their open fire, in the dark because they did not have enough money to pay the electricity bill. Hedges himself once even gave a family one of his own lightbulbs. 

Mr and Mrs. M, Nick Hedges, 1969

Mr and Mrs. T, Nick Hedges, 1968-72

And yet, amongst all the desolation and devastation, girls still put on make-up, children still smiled, swings were still swung and games were still played. Even on the bottom of the pile, the human spirit still endures. 

This was definitely one of the best exhibitions I have visited. Sadly, it is no longer open, but you can find out more information about Nick Hedges, the exhibition and Shelter here: 

Nick Hedges

Make Life Worth Living

Shelter - what they do

You can also purchase the book to accompany the exhibition here; exclusive to the Science Museum, £2 of each sale goes to Shelter to help even more people. Because, as was stated at the exit to the exhibition at the museum, poverty and homelessness still exist in England today. While people may not have to endure the squalor of the slums of the 1960s, every 11 minutes, a family in the UK loses their home.

Drawn by Light: The Royal Photographic Society exhibition and London's Science Museum.

‘…photography...is used alike by art and science, by love, business, and justice; is found in the most sumptuous saloon, and in the dingiest attic—in the solitude of the Highland cottage, and in the glare of the London gin-palace, in the pocket of the detective, in the cell of the convict, in the folio of the painter and architect, among the papers and patterns of the millowner and manufacturer, and on the cold brave breast on the battle-field.’

Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, the wife of Charles Eastlake, the first President of the Photographic Society, 

The London Quarterly Review, April 1857

On Saturday, the boy and I headed into London to go and see the current Royal Photographic Society's exhibition at the Science Museum's Media Space, Drawn by Light. We were let in through the swish security doors and into the gallery space which was welcoming and well presented. 

The exhibition took us through the history of photography from the first prints to be classed as photography, through the evolution of the Daguerreotype and the Camera Obscura, to more modern transparencies and colour images. 
As we walked into the room, we were met with a large dark cube, which housed, in darkness, the earliest known forms of photography; Niépce's heliographs, printed onto metal plates using light sensitive materials. These looked more like engravings than photographs, but the knowledge and imagination to even get to that landmark is amazing!

http://britishphotohistory.ning.com

Moving on, images of ghostly figures showed you around the room as women and children in their 1800s' dress graced faint sepia toned photographs, hand printed and now over 150 years old.
There was a glass case of Daguerreotypes and its successors; something I was very excited to see - it is one of my hopes that I will one day stumble upon an original Daguerreotype in a tiny old antiques shop, which I will have to buy! Daguerreotypes preceded commercial photography but is a step up from the aforementioned Heliographs, being printed on glass and in colour.
This first section even housed the earliest forms of photoshop! - Albeit done by hand and in a dark room; much more impressive in my opinion!

Henry Peach-Robinson, Fading Away (1858)

Looking at the image above - even when it's hanging on a wall in front of you(!) - you would never know that it is made up of 5 different negatives. 

Further along, there were more glass cases sheltering things such as a book with the hand-written minutes from the first ever meeting of the Royal Photographic Society, a booklet with the rules and regulations of the RPG, early types of commercial cameras, which came in wooden boxes with their own chemicals and even Henry Fox-Talbot's experimental cameras; variations on Camera Lucidas and Camera Obscuras which he had had made to further the evolution of photography; the process of which he was a pioneer. 

The great thing about this exhibition was that it wasn't just photographs hung on walls; there were objects and paraphernalia to wonder at, things which have to be seen to be appreciated. 

It was, however, fascinating to see some of the most important and seminal images from the last 160 years. 

Roger Fenton, Looking Towards McKenzies Heights (1855)

Images that made you think and put you right in the heart of the image,

Harold 'Doc' Edgerton, Milk Drop Coronet, (1957)

The onset and popularity of colour film,

Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman, Christina by the boat, (1913)

And my personal favourite, one of a set of photographs taken by Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman in the summer of 1913 on a beach. It shows a golden haired girl, sat in front of a boat, deep in thought. To me, she looks almost mermaid-like, as if she's just shed her tail and crawled onto the shore. 

This image was backlit, highlighting its beautiful colours, and is almost ahead of its time in terms of colour photography. O'Gorman, who was an aircraft and electrical engineer, caught on to this new technology and seemed to favour it; allowing us to see a certain period in time in its stunning, subdued colours while also giving it a sense of romanticism and wistfulness. 

For further information about this exhibition and to see the trailer, visit here. 

As an extra note, the quotation at the top of this blog is why I love photography! It can comfort, and convict. Be the truth, but also a lie. Is accessible to kings and paupers. It is the past, present and future. And I am a geek. The end!