The Urban Fox

Inspired by residents’ stories of the natural world, the Urban Fox mural and animation project spins a fairytale of Higham Hill, where a bright-eyed fox wanders through the wetlands.

The Urban Fox is a multi-disciplinary project to transform a busy alleyway in Higham Hill with a mural design, pollinator friendly planters and augmented reality animations to give the wall a “second life”.

Led by story producer and curator Kate Hampel, artist Tom Jackson of Wood Street Walls Modular Media and animator Maggie Nightingale The Digital Story Company has co-created an urban nature inspired design in a series of workshops with foster families and the wider community of Waltham Forest.

The starting point of the Urban Fox project was gathering tales from residents in Higham Hill about their encounters with urban nature. From this basis a wetlands backdrop was created, celebrating Higham Hill’s famous sunsets, foxes, electrical pylons. Workshop participants later enriched the landscape with stencils of plants and animals while others fashioned handmade puppets for a short, animated film and augmented reality about the adventures of a young fox.

Watch the Urban Fox animated film (1 minute)

The project has also been a vehicle for training and growing creative talent. Two young people making the transition away from foster care were paid training roles to help run the workshops, create the mural design and assist in the augmented reality animations. An additional two paid film production bursaries were also awarded to young people in the community.

Special thanks to trainees Aether Singh, Shayma Fouad, Hunnie Hillyleaf-Scott and Blessing Itunga.

Funding was provided by Waltham Forest Council's Make It Happen grant programme with additional support from Community Ward funding, Future Formed Waltham Forest, Clarion Futures and Blackhorse Collective Creative Enterprise Zone.

TESTIMONIES

REMAR: I've never seen my carer before, with this kind of creative side …it’s is nice to see, creative side of someone when you've never seen it before.

MARY The benefits of this workshop, I will say, actually brings people together around the community, different foster carers. And, like, it brings the care of the child together as well.

AETHER: I've been involved in something that other people can see now. I think it is important for someone who's been through the care system…It can be a very difficult time. So, I think it's very important to have something that you can feel a part of.

AUSTIN: It feels, like, amazing that everyone's doing their own little things, and it's all going to come together and be like, really cool.