Politically minded and defiantly Modern, this week's talent is one of a growing group of young graduate designers on a mission to change the world, or at least communicate its problems better.
How would you describe your practice?
I’m the product of my dual admiration for Eighties punk flyers and mid century modernists, combined with an interest in left wing politics. Primarily, I use type and image to realise an outcome which is generally print based.
You studied graphic design at Brighton, what did you take most from the course there?
I think the course at Brighton provides you with an environment where you are encouraged to find your own interests, influences and aesthetics and then produce the work you would want to produce. I think the most important thing I took from Brighton however was the network of people. At Brighton, graphic design and illustration run parallel to each other. We shared a studio for the whole three years and worked together on a number of projects. Because of this, you were constantly able to learn from people who thought and worked differently to you and I think that had a positive impact on everyone.
Your work tends towards the political; were you political before you went to university, or has the succession of increased student fees, budget cuts and the recent election been a big influence?
I wasn’t overly political before I started at Brighton and I do credit the group of people I worked with for the past three years for my interest in politics. I’m from an area with a fairly safe Tory seat and my friends and I rarely spoke about politics because it was something we had no real interest in. It wasn't until I came to Brighton and spoke to people who cared about politics and who took me to student protests and to anti-EDL marches that I started to pay attention. The recent election hit a lot of people in our class really hard. The day after felt like a day of mourning. It was that sort of atmosphere that I worked in that really inspired me to open my eyes and to try and make work about something which seemed really important
You did a publication on the Focus E15 housing action group. Could you tell us a bit more about this project.
For people who don’t know, Focus E15 formed to take action against the social cleansing which is taking place in Newham, East London. They were a group of mothers who were being re-homed around the country. Some were being told they had to go as far away as Birmingham, despite the fact that the Carpenters Estate, an estate which borders the Olympic park and is watched over by Anish Kapoor’s tower like the eye of Sauron, was empty. They occupied one of the empty homes and in the process gained national press coverage for their campaign. They won their court battle and people started to be moved into the empty homes on the estate and Focus E15 organised a meeting to talk about what was next for them. At the meeting people from grassroots housing groups all across London spoke of their similar struggle against private developers and corrupt local councils. I filmed the whole meeting and then transcribed it, producing a small publication from the transcription. This was one of the first projects where I really saw how what I do could help people, and could provide a platform to share stories that I thought needed sharing.
What are you working on now and what's next?
At the moment I’m planning a few personal projects, looking for internships around London, riding my bike and slowly working through the big stack of books that piled up during my last year at Brighton.
tommyspitters.co.uk
