The DU Lounge

“The Gorbals”, a stark black- and-white photograph, was taken by Hardy in 1948, a time when thousands of families were living in squalid tenement blocks.

The image captures two young boys in tatty clothing playing in a street in the area to the south of the River Clyde, surrounded by the dilapidated, overcrowded housing stock.

Hardy had been sent to Glasgow by his employers, the Picture Post, a prominent photo-journalistic magazine which ran from 1938 to 1957, echoing the tone and content of Life, the long-running US publication.

Intrigued by the Gorbals’ unwanted reputation as being among the worst slums in all of Europe, the London-born photographer captured the decay, but also something of the city’s spirit – the youngsters in his frame are walking arm in arm along the long demolished Clelland Street, wearing cheery smiles.