Het grote verlies van Het Kleine Wijk

Miniature of working-class neighbourhood Het Kleine Wijk in Ondiep in Utrecht, captured in the year before the arrival of the demolition hammers. Het Kleine Wijk is a village in itself, which was constructed in the 1920s and where everybody knows each other and each other’s behaviour, children and dogs. Many windows display a small plate saying ‘Beware of the dog’. The residents talk about the old days, explaining how many times they repainted their houses, in an attempt to make them even more beautiful, and that they will bid the quarter farewell with a broken heart, but with their heads up: ‘If I can’t live in my own little street, there’s no reason to stay in this neighbourhood.’ The camera illustrates their stories with images of street life and the interiors. The grand finale of the decline of this colourful quarter is the sea of flowers on the spot where one of the residents has been killed in an act of meaningless violence.