Aim high to reach for your dreams and to write on a “Before I Die” wall. (Savannah, Georgia)
© Trevor Coe

Gaining Perspective at the Chalkboard

It was such a simple idea. Some colored chalk, a dusty chalkboard, a single sentence. But when it lit up the hopes and dreams of a community, it ignited similar projects in public spaces around the globe.

Candy Chang setting up a wall to capture a
community’s hopes and dreams.
© Kristina Kassem

Candy Chang’s first “Before I die, I want to . . .” wall went up in New Orleans in 2011. Still growing, the count as of today is more than

• 400 walls
• 60 countries
• 25 languages

For the communities involved, the experience is powerful. Most come to know their community better, gaining perspective on both their personal and shared values.

As Chang says, “The power of the project rests in the hands of the passerby who picks up a piece of chalk, pauses for a moment, and writes something honest, poetic, and occasionally heartbreaking.”

The First Wall—A Creative Idea Comes to Life

With degrees in Architecture, Graphic Design, and Urban Planning, Chang views our public spaces as a way to “nourish our well-being and see that we are not alone as we try to make sense of our lives.”

In New Orleans, she frequently passed by an abandoned house two blocks from her home.

Abandoned house in Chang’s New Orleans neighborhood caught her eye as the site for the first wall.
© Candy Chang

One day, while grieving the loss of a loved one, she saw the old house with new eyes. She decided on a public art project that, by raising the specter of death, would invite the community to fixate on their hopes and dreams.

Like many creative ideas, this one was born through an experience, an “Oh, I see” moment, that pushed Chang to look at life differently.

Once she visualized the idea, she prepared a stencil for the statement and worked with her friends to ready the wall.

Chang creating the stencil
© Kristina Kassem

And then Chang waited, not knowing if anyone would even understand the invitation to write. She describes the next day: “I was blown away. All eighty lines were filled and responses spilled into the margins.”

The New Orleans wall set up and ready for writing, but will anyone come?
© Candy Chang

Within 24 hours of setting up the wall, every blank was filled.
© Candy Chang

The wall kept filling up, getting cleaned, and filling up again.
© Candy Chang

Chang and her friends maintained the wall, documenting it, washing it, replenishing chalk. After seven months, the house sold and the wall came down.

More Walls and a Multitude of Messages

Walls have now popped up worldwide—in Kazakhstan, Portugal, Japan, Mexico, Denmark, Iraq, Argentina, South Africa, the USA, to name a few. And everywhere, people came to write.

Some unleashed their sense of humor, while others went in search of fame, fortune or great love. Dreams ran the gamut from purely practical pursuits to travel adventures far and wide. Most often, however, people sought well-being and a life lived long and well.

Before I die I want to. . .

• hug a kangaroo. (Kézdivásárhely, Romania)
• stare at the stars with the people I love. (Pohang City, South Korea)
• feel comfortable in my skin. (Black Rock City, Nevada)
• be tried for piracy. (New Orleans, USA—see photo)

A pirate is a pirate is a pirate who wants “to be tried for piracy”!
© Kristina Kassem

• shake the world with my work. (Seoul, Korea)
• have my own theme song. (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• clean out the attic. (Dublin, Ireland)
• eat all the candy and sushi in the world. (New Orleans, USA—see photo)

A mother is just starting to record her dreams, but her daughter is quick to write,
“eat all the candy and sushi in the world.”
© Kristina Kassem

• matter to someone. (Minneapolis, USA)
• understand women. (Erfurt, Germany)
• wave to the Earth from the moon. (Melbourne, Australia)
• tell the world I was very happy. (Querétaro, Mexico)

Walls around the world trap dreams no matter the language. (Querétaro, Mexico)
© Candy Chang

Each “Before I die. . .” wall has its unique lifespan from a single day to months or more. But, when participants share the public space with hopes and dreams like these, they gain perspective that just may last a lifetime.

Neighbors connect with the community and each other
at the “Before I Die” wall in Brooklyn, New York.
© Shake Shack

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

In Before I Die, written by Candy Chang and published by St. Martin’s Press, you can experience 48 different walls and the wisdoms recorded there. 

Visit the Before I Die site to keep up with new walls or to obtain a tool kit for starting a wall  in your community. You can also contribute to a “Before I Die” wall online.