Exiled in the present: The last Cyberman walks in Rettendon

The author introduces, presents and considers a recent experiment that saw him walk to the location of the 1995 Essex Range Rover murders while dressed as a character he has created, ‘the last Cyberman’. The article tracks the lineage of this imagined persona through a concise review of the author’s journey through fine art research study, before displaying the photographs and reflective text resulting from the walk. Upon analysing these, connections are made to the work of Francesca Woodman, Michael Landy and J. G. Ballard, as it becomes evident that this recent performative development in the author’s practice reveals previously tacit truths about his relationship to his home county and the displacement he feels in twenty-first-century life.