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