Before I die I want to... Candy Chang

there are a lot of ways the people

around us can help improve our lives we

don’t bump into every neighbor so a lot

of wisdom never gets passed on but we do

share the same public spaces so over the

past few years I’ve tried ways to share

more with my neighbors in public space

using simple tools like stickers

stencils and chalk and these projects

came from questions I had like how much

are my neighbors paying for their

apartments how can we lend and borrow

more things without knocking on each

other’s door is at a bad time how can we

share more of our memories of our

abandoned buildings and gain a better

understanding of our landscape and how

can we share more of our hopes for our

vacant storefronts so our communities

can reflect our needs and dreams today I

live in New Orleans and I am in love

with New Orleans my soul is always

soothed by the giant live oak trees

shading lovers drunks and dreamers for

hundreds of years and I trust a city

that always makes way for music I feel

like every time someone sneezes New

Orleans other parade the city has some

of the most beautiful architecture in

the world but it also has where the

highest amounts of abandoned properties

in America I live near this house and I

thought about how I could make it a

nicer space for my neighborhood and I

also thought about something that

changed my life forever

in 2009 I lost someone I loved very much

her name was Joan and she was a mother

to me and her death was sudden and

unexpected

I thought about death a lot and this

made me feel deep gratitude for the time

I’ve had and brought clarity to the

things that are meaningful to my life

now but I struggle to maintain this

perspective in my daily life I feel like

it’s easy to get caught up in the

day-to-day and forget what really

matters to you so with help from old and

new friends I turn the side of this

abandoned house into a giant chalkboard

and stenciled it with a

fill-in-the-blank sentence before I die

I want to so anyone walking by can pick

up a piece of chalk reflect on their

lives and share their personal

aspirations in public space I didn’t

know what to expect from this experiment

but by the next day the wall was

entirely filled out and it kept growing

and I’d like to share a few things that

people wrote on this wall before I die I

want to be tried for piracy

before I die I want to straddle the

International Dateline before I die I

want to sing for millions before I die I

want to plant a tree before I die I want

to live off the grid before I die I want

to hold her one more time before I die I

want to be someone’s cavalry before I

die I want to be completely myself

so this neglected space became a

constructive one and people’s hopes and

dreams made me laugh out loud cheer up

and they consoled me during my own tough

times it’s about knowing you’re not

alone it’s about understanding our

neighbors and new and enlightening ways

it’s about making space for reflection

and contemplation and remembering and

what really matters most to us as we

grow and change I made this last year

and started receiving hundreds of

messages from passionate people who

wanted to make a wall with their

community so my civic center colleagues

and I made a toolkit and now walls have

been made in countries around the world

including Kazakhstan South Africa

Australia Argentina and Beyond together

we’ve shown how powerful our public

spaces can be if we’re given the

opportunity to have a voice and share

more with one another two of the most

valuable things we have our time and our

relationships with other people in our

age of increasing distractions it’s more

important than ever to find ways to

maintain perspective and remember that

life is brief and tender death is

something that were often discouraged to

talk about or even think about but I’ve

realized that preparing for death is one

of the most empowering things you can do

thinking about death clarifies your life

our shared spaces can better reflect

what matters to us as individuals and as

a community and with more ways to share

our hopes fears and stories the people

around us can not only help us make

better places they can help us lead

better lives thank you