What my friend Mel shared about Mr Llewellyn Thomas immediately struck a chord. I wish to affirm in this story his life as an individual through the lens of my experience and what is happening to my sight. I went online to research his murder and found myself visualising his life as a farmer in Wales before he retired and settled in Cambridgeshire. I too had grown up on a farm and moved to a city. Mel drove me to see the house Mr Thomas had bought, a large property next to the busy A10 motorway between Cambridge and Ely. Afterwards she parked the car in a street near the place the two men who murdered Mr Thomas dumped his car. We walked along the River Cam to Fen Road where they had fled.

Mel set out to show me this part of Cambridge, giving me some insight into a community that keep themselves separate. I was having a chance to see what many are oblivious to when they use the towpath or row up and down the river. My intention is not to recreate what she told me, but to map out the affect this has on how I see my surroundings. I have approached the Fen Road community through their local support services, in the hope of sharing what I have put together, but no-one has responded.

Parallel to the river Cam where rowing clubs practice, and cyclists and walkers use the embankment path is Fen Road with “more than 200 travellers’ pitches” (Cambridge News, May 2018). In summer 2021, I wished to see what makes this community remain separate, yet so close to the historic centre of Cambridge, UK. Their presence is considered controversial as reflected in this Reddit online forum.
© Karren Visser. Sight Lines, Arts Council England funded, 2021–22.

I chose a triptych for the layout of three photographs to show how the murder of Mr Llewellyn Thomas, as told by my friend Mel and from my reading online newspaper articles of the time, affected me. My intention is not to share details. A Google search with the words ‘Mr Llewellyn Thomas Cambridgeshire’ will provide this information. Nor is it to suggest that Fen Road is a place that harbours murderers. Instead, I would like to convey a sense of vulnerability, how I am feeling as my sight deteriorates and what I saw in a photograph of Mr Thomas from a newspaper article, that is relevant for a diverse audience.
© Karren Visser. Sight Lines, Arts Council England funded, 2021–22.

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