What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?
After losing someone she loved, artist Candy Chang painted the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled the sentence, “Before I die I want to _____.” Within a day of the wall’s completion, it was covered in colorful chalk dreams as neighbors stopped and reflected on their lives. Since then, more than four hundred Before I Die walls have been created by people all over the world.
Candy Chang is an artist who believes in the power of our public spaces to help us make sense of our communities and ourselves.
Before I die, I want to…
Publish a memoir or collection of my poetry
Salem, Oregon
Write something that will continue to do good on the earth after I am gone.
South Padre Island, Texas
I want to exercise everyday.
Los Angeles, USA
We want to plan a trip back to our family’s lake cabin this summer.
Deleuth, Minnesota
I want to go back and finish my degree.
Denver, Colorado
Read a book a month.
San Francisco, USA
I want to learn how to flemenco dance.
San Diego, USA
I will go visit my grandmother more often.
Palm Springs, USA
Learn how to play piano well enough to play Christmas carols.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Go to New York with my daughter.
los Angeles, USA