Tottenham and Croydon Foxes, 2014

The Tottenham and Croydon foxes are a series of ceramic sculptures exploring the city’s effects on us as animals, where Barford uses current affairs to examine the wider human condition.
The fox, the apex predator in the British Isles, is a wily and crafty animal who, from Beatrix Potter to the gingerbread man, has always been depicted as getting his way through cunning and guile.
When placed in an urban environment and the fox becomes the lowest of the low – a scavenger, a vermin.

A family of three life-size foxes initially disarm the viewer with their soft edges, fluffy ears and padding paws, but when examined we see that the ceramic flowers and leaves they are made of, feature shocking images of the fires and the aftermath of the 2011 London Riots.  In this series, Barford draws a comparison between city foxes forced to struggle and scavenge and societal and economic pressures experienced by swathes of our city.