Before I Die- Candy Chang

"Thinking about death clarifies your life". Before I die, I want to become the person that people spend their lives waiting for. Candy Chang created her first Before I Die wall on an abandoned house in New Orleans, of someone she loved. (Before I Die, n.d.)

Joan died on a quiet August day. She was a mother to me for fifteen years. She was kind and thoughtful. She loved to garden and she taught me how to plant flowers. When I was a confused teenager, she told me to be true to myself. Her death was sudden and unexpected, and there were so many things she still wanted to do: learn to play the piano, live in Paris, and see the Pacific Ocean. I spent a long time filled with grief. Then I felt gratitude for the time we had together.

Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: "Before I die I want to ....." It became an unexpected mirror for the community. (Before I Die, n.d.)

Before I Die project is to examines the ways the walls of our cities can help us grapple with death and meaning as a community today. Each wall is created by a passionate of people who want to make a space in their community to restore perspective and reflect with one another. Hence it is a tribute to living an examined life. Every single wall gives the communities an inclusive space for their personal expression, consolation and understanding. Before I Die has become a global participatory public art project that reimagines our relationship with death and with one another. (Before I Die is a global art wall project that inspires and invites, n.d.)

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Reference and citation

Popova (n.d.) found that "Before I Die: A Global Ethnography of Anonymous Aspirations in Chalk and Public Space". Retrieved from https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/11/05/before-i-die-a-candy-chang/

"Before I Die" (n.d.) Retrieved from https://beforeidieproject.com/

"Before I Die is a global art wall project that inspires and invites" (n.d.) Retrieved from https://urnabios.com/before-i-die-wall-global-art-project-inspires/