details

2024
229 × 152mm, 128 pages
Self-designed and published
£13
@tommyleegrimmer

artist

Tommy Lee Grimmer is an independent photographer based in the East of England. His work gravitates around his connection to – and understanding of – the British experience, personal identities, and the relationship we form with belonging.

publication

Private and Confidential addresses the power of modern property ownership, the control it maintains over much of society, and the idea of our ‘property-owning democracy’ in an era of rapid privatisation.

The photographs are shown upon repurposed envelopes that once served the British postal system, harbouring confidential documentation across the border between public and private space. The project was inspired by Tommy’s own experiences of buying a house. ‘I was always told about how “an Englishman’s home is his castle” and “there is no better investment than bricks and mortar”, often from my Dad,’ he recounts. The ‘property-owning democracy’ is arguably now consigned to the past. The privatisation of both housebuilding and land ownership have dramatically shaped the landscape of which the cultural longing for homeownership is projected upon, Tommy explains.

The images were created all across the country, from the streets of London to the heights of Kinder Scout. ‘I printed my photographs directly on the envelopes that I had been collecting from friends and family for months, my best supplier being my Nan,’ Tommy explains. After using paint to censor any sensitive details, he scanned them to produce the images seen in the book.

‘For me, I am utilising the medium of the photobook to encourage physicality and detox from the digitalisation of art,’ concludes Tommy.