Candy Chang is an artist and designer based in New Orleans, she's created countless projects but this one is one of the most inspiring. One day she just took over an abandoned house in her community. She painted the side of it in chalkboard paint and stenciled in the sentence:
“Before I die I want to _______.”
The beauty of this project is that it allows you to get to know your community members in addition to functioning as a piece of public art. The project has spread to other countries all over the world. It's been replicated in 30 countries, including Kazakhstan, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Australia, and South Africa. Every person, no matter their location, comes together to share your dreams. Chang's hope is to better communities and give people from all over the chance to be heard. It's so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day lives and forget what really matters. This project encourages all of us to reflect and remember the dreams we once had, in hopes of reigniting the passion that was once within.
"At their greatest, our public spaces can nourish our
well-being and help us see that we’re not alone as we
try to make sense of our lives. Each passerby is
another person full of longing, anxiety, fear, and
wonder. With more ways to share in public space,
the people around us can not only help us make
better places, they can help us become our best selves."
Candy Chang
