A dirty river

A long time ago, a small river by the name of “De Gampel” flowed through the city towards the harbour. The river was severely polluted, which lead to poor living conditions: lots of diseases, crime and other misery. The river was subdued in 1897, but the negativity surrounding the neighbourhood stayed. In an attempt to change this bad reputation, in 1980 the area was renewed and renamed “Gerardus Majella”. To this day it’s a neighbourhood where people stick around for a long time, sometimes even for four generations.
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The square in the middle of the neighbourhood was recently renewed by adding a football cage. The football cage was named after Hein van Gastel, who grew up in the area. The square surrounding the cage gets called “Zwarte Plein” (black square), because of the asphalt.
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Italian brothers Marco and Andrea Mangione, aka Gummy Gue, transformed the square into a colourful work of art. The colours are a reference to the Gampel. Gummy Gue was an obvious choice, they have painted many sports fields and skateparks in cities around Europe. Due to the bad weather, Marco and Andrea (and our many lovely volunteers!) weren’t able to finish the painting back in December 2018, So they came back in the Spring of 2019 to finish it.

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- Blind Walls Gallery | 2019 -