Before I Die is a global art project that invites people to contemplate mortality
and share their personal aspirations in public.
Before I Die
The Before I Die project reimagines the ways the walls of our cities can help us grapple with death and meaning as a community today.
Where We're Doing It Next
Broadway Shopping Centre (Bexleyheath)
Thursday 18 July - Sunday 21 July
Candy Chang created the first Before I Die wall on an abandoned house in New Orleans after the death of someone she loved. Joan was like a mother to her for fifteen years and there were still so many things she wanted to do: learn to play the piano, live in France, see the Pacific Ocean.
She made a homemade stencil that said, “Before I die I want to _____,” and with help from old and new friends, she painted the side of a crumbling house in her neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with this prompt so that anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on death and life, and share their personal aspirations in public.
These boards serve as an accessible place where we can reflect upon our mortality with neighbours and passersby. Each response represents an individual’s unique desires and values, and each wall offers a snapshot of our shared anxieties and hopes, our collective joys and struggles.
By creating spaces where we can share our inner lives in public, Before I Die reimagines the ways we remember what really matters in an age of increasing distraction and flux.
