GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The basketball court at Mary Waters Park in Grand Rapids has a fresh coat of paint and a tie to the indigenous peoples of Mexico.
The basketball court is now covered in a massive mural embodying two gods from the ancient civilization of Purépecha, which was a major empire during the Mesoamerica pre-colonial era.
The mural was designed by local artist Edgar Hernandez, with support from the Lions & Rabbits Center for the Arts (LRCFA). The painting was done by Calvin College Street Fest volunteers, the LRCFA team, and local community members.
"Their two main gods were the god of sun and the goddess of creation aka mother earth. This illustration is an embodiment of all of that," said Hernandez.
Hernandez's family is native to the region of Mexico, now known as the Mexican state of Michoacan, where the Purépecha civilization existed.
"The Purépecha are an indigenous group that settled in the Sierra Madre Mountains more than 1,000 years ago. The Purépecha was an ancient civilization considered to be one of the mightiest and most advanced of the Mesoamerica pre-colonial era. The height of their empire was from the 1300s until the arrival and invasion of the Spanish in the 1500s," Hernandez said about the mural.
The basketball court is open to the public and is located at 1042 Lafayette Ave NE in Grand Rapids at the Mary Waters Park.
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