Before I Die

by Candy Chang

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. This beautiful hardcover book is an inspiring celebration of these walls and the stories behind them. Filled with hope, fear, humor, and heartbreak, Before I Die presents an intimate portrait of the dreams within our communities and a chance to ponder life's ultimate question.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Biography, Art and Photography, Art Design, Inspirational, Photography

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2013

About the author

Candy Chang is an artist, designer, and urban planner who explores making cities more comfortable and contemplative places. She believes in the potential of introspection and collective wisdom in public space to improve our communities and help us lead better lives.

Recent projects include Before I Die, where she transformed an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans into an interactive wall for people to share their hopes and dreams -- a project The Atlantic called “one of the most creative community projects ever.” Other projects include I Wish This Was, a street art project that invites people to voice what they want in vacant storefronts, and Neighborland, an online tool that helps people self-organize and shape the development of their communities. She is a TED Senior Fellow, an Urban Innovation Fellow, and was named a “Live Your Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah magazine. By combining street art with urban planning and social activism, she has been recognized as a leader in developing new strategies for the design of our cities. She is co-founder of Civic Center, an art and design studio in New Orleans.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this book for awhile. I got it from Book Outlet and I'm so glad I did, it made me feel so good to read about what this lady started all over the world.



The front and back cover of this book is beautiful. It looks like the walls that are out there in the world.

While looking for photo's from the book, I freaking found that we have a wall here in Chattanooga! YES! It's down the interstate toward downtown though. =( Most of my good friends on here know I have agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house) and my panic disorder causes all kinds of problems being in a car. It takes all I can to ride to my doctor's appointments. Luckily they are all about 5 minutes away. But, this wall will not be something I can handle to go and write on. Maybe that should be one of my goals, to make it to that wall. Here is a woman in Chattanooga getting ready to write on the wall.



From the link I read, our wall was revealed in June of this year (2017) and it was set up by Hospice and some others.

I decided I'm making my own wall, but inside a notebook. I think it is a wonderful thing to have and I want to write down any and everything. I thought about talking to dad about making one and putting it right in our front yard!

Here are a few pictures of some other walls.









This book was put out in 2013 (at least my edition was) so there are probably millions of these places that haven't been documented yet. I think they might have a website too. I would think so.

In this book is says there are over 200 walls created on 6 continents & 40+ countries. I think that is amazing.

Well, I was looking for an inspirational book and I found it ♥

Here is a little thing I made of a few of the comments on the walls.



Also, at the end of the book it gives you instructions on how to make your own wall. Getting permission, materials, stencils etc. I think it's perfect, just perfect.

Mel ♥

MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5***

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Chang noticed the many abandoned, boarded up homes in New Orleans. One such house was in her neighborhood – a daily reminder of damage, devastation, shattered hopes and despair. She was inspired to do something and got permission from the owner and the city to create a piece of public art. She painted one wall of the house with chalkboard paint and stenciled Before I Die… on it. Then she affixed baskets of chalk and waited to see what people would write. The result was amazing. People poured out their hopes and dreams – some as small as “Kiss Brian,” others as large as “See World Peace”; some as practical as “plant a garden,” others as fanciful as “walk on the moon.”

Her project brought her neighborhood together as people wrote, read, and discussed the responses. When the board filled up, she washed it clean and let people write on it again. Eventually she saw a new owner of the house completely refurbish it and move in … answering the hope of one person who wrote: Before I die I want to see this be a HOME again!.

Chang’s project drew national and international attention, and other groups or individuals sponsored similar walls in cities around the world – covering 40+ countries on six continents and using 16+ different languages. The locations had populations from as large as 18 million, to as small as 20,000 (Not counting the wall put up during Burning Man Festival where there is no permanent population). The top five most common responses over the globe were: 1: Love / 2: Live / 3: Travel / 4: Be happy / 5: Help others.

This is a fascinating look at some of the cities where the walls were placed. This book explores what inspired the sponsors to create a wall in their community, and highlights many of the responses. In some cases, the person completing the sentence was further interviewed with more info given on their background and the meaning behind their brief message.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway. I think it would be great to add to the teen collection and booktalk. I'd love to put up a "Before I Die" wall. I think the anonymity aspect is probably the best. I've been thinking of what I might write and if it was anonymous I would probably bear more of my soul than I would on my review and definitely more than I'd share on my library review. The wall postings of others make you think deeper about life and would be a good writing prompt as well.

Before I die I want to: be comfortable with myself.

Before I die I want to: return to Hawaii and introduce my second home to my husband and son.

Before I die I want to: see my son grow up, get married, and meet my grandchildren.

Before I die I want to: resolve relationships that are broken.

Before I die I want to: meet the son I placed for adoption in 1997.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember why I put this on hold at the library, where I read about Chang's project. I'm glad I did. I wish the book had more and larger photos of the various walls around the world, though. I liked the little mini-stories about the different people/places putting up walls. This would be an awesome teen project, I think. And I'm befuddled as to why Portland doesn't have one of these walls yet.

[Rehan Abd Jamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring piece!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Introduction but after that the book became repetitive, listing boards and descriptions until the end chapters. I found myself skimming through the book just reading the Before I Die.... responses. Definitely get this at the library and not the book store. Top expensive. Fascinating idea for a project.

[Ileana Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought of this book as more of just a coffee table book, which I guess it technically is, but I am now inspired to put up one of these walls.

[Sarah Bigham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gifted to me by students, this book is a photo essay of a worldwide art project that inspires many reflections on life

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

About a month ago I noticed on the corner of Mass and right before the Masonic temple the wall that was raised in our city. Unlike many of the walls that were mentioned in the book, though, I haven't seen the goodwill gathering and talking about dreams that has brought so much communities together within the book.

But it isn't the above that has made me give this book so low a ranking. First of all out of all the walls there are in the world I don't understand what the criteria may have for choosing the walls that were included in the book itself. Although I do enjoy the variety there was also not a consistency on the walls used for some of them only had two pages dedicated to them and some had quite a bit more.

The other thing is that as much as this should be an inspiring book you couldn't see the majority off the dreams that were written on the walls. There was either too much dreams written together, a foreign language you couldn't understand or the pictures were taken too far away and/or had people that were standing before them thus blocking the majority of the writing.

And although the book did cover a few of the thoughts, hopes and wishes of those they were far less than what you would expect. Most were slightly repetitive or just related to a single person or two instead of the world with their brazen statement. Again not quite sure what the rest of the criteria was for choosing what would go or what would stay in the presentation of the book itself, ,which affected the writing as a few shared stories were mainly about the influencer or founder of the specific wall being mentioned.

I did enjoy the fact that the walls were at least in color instead of the black-and-white that is sometimes presented. What I didn't like about these same pictures was the fact that the more one got into studying the book's walls you noticed they used the same picture. On the open opposite page they would mostly use a short cut section of a wall then if you were lucky enough to flip the page you would see a bigger version but with the same writing as before, which took away from the reader getting to see other hopes and dreams.

I did like the fact, though, that each wall section was presented with some fun trivia about the city at the top of the page and the population amount. From there the book continued to be useful for those who may study into it by giving number percentages on hopes, remixed wall ideas and even if you should so desire how to make your own wall including its own checklist.

In the end if you are looking for ideas into what you should add to your bucketlist this will give you more eye strain than ideas. Otherwise it is a nice book to flip through at least once and understand how much we have in common no matter where we come from, where we are going or where we are living just as we also have our own differences.

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly different than the slightly over used “Bucket list”. Approached with much less of a tongue in cheek too. The brevity of the statement forces one to select a single item in comparison to the bucket list that easily becomes a shopping list. And with the bucket list I had to focus not to make it a travel destination log.
This is a very thought provoking question and could potentially change your life. That’s for sure. The responses in the book, from so many places all over our big beautiful world is exquisite. I am thinking that the chalk board temporality is a major incentive. The open ended question with a line drawn for a response is a wonderful motivator and it is such a natural instinct to complete a sentence.

When judging a book, I have 3 vessels that needs to be filled:

🚩Did I learn something
🚩Did the words/language give me joy
🚩Could I immerse myself in the characters and story

If I can put a drop in each of the vessels I consider reading the book time well spent.
Any amount more than a drop is a fabulous book.

So while this book could be seen as a fairly narrow topic, I can’t express the joy I had from the tiny blurb at the top of each page where the author painted a very short word picture of each of the cities where she invited people to write their responses to the question. I consider myself fairly well travelled, but according to this book, I haven’t started yet!

And if you wanted to know:
Before I die I want to
be an artist.
What is yours?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, I didn't think much of this book.
But once I started to READ it, I really enjoyed it.

The author / artist begins by painting an abandoned house in her neighborhood. And she didn't expect much of a response because it's not a neighborhood with heavy foot traffic or a place where people congregate and socialize.
Well, it hadn't been.

The power of those blank lines is that a neglected eyesore became a community hub and a constructive place of pride that much of the neighborhood looked after.
The first day "All eighty lines were filled...and the replies were thoughtful, funny, poetic, and heartbreaking."
They expected graffiti and vandalism, but it rarely happened. Neighbors began to gather, introduce themselves and share their stories while reading the day's responses. Cars and buses pulled over and people posed for photos. The block became safer.

And then, the wall began to spread all over the world...

[Emma Bothwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cool idea, I really want to try making one! I loved reading other people's responses from all around the world...as the book says, makes you wonder at the stories behind some of the things that are written - some made me laugh, others made me tear up. A really cool way to glimpse into private lives with total anonymity, and a really good way to feel inspired. Definitely worth flicking through, or checking out the website, with a cup of tea and a biscuit on a Sunday afternoon.

[J Crossley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful idea! Candy Chang developed an idea to put “Before I die I want to ____________” on the sides of buildings. People could write in the blanks. Some are goals, some are aspirations, some are minor things, and some are major things. Pictures of the walls are provided, along with close-ups. Walls from all over the world are spotlighted in the book. What I found is how much we all have in common.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old lost friend used to tell me we should concentrate on what we have in common, not our differences. This touching book does exactly that. For a short time I focused on normal people throughout the world and their personal dreams and wants.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy “connective humanity” projects such as this (if not a term then I’m coining it-here and now). Something so simple that speaks such volumes. The book is well put together and I’d like to see if there is any follow up on some of these goals.

[Tiffany Oim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Great read. Highly recommend.

[Ann Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Inspirational

Congrats to Candy and her collaborators. Would that our world could reflect these aspirations.
Lovely way to showcase art and life.

[Vin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I die I want to become indomitable.

[Clifford Onehundredd · Rating 5 out of 5]

In reading Candy Chang's book...it is extremely therapeutic to think of the countless things you could accomplish before kicking the bucket. I wish I found this book sooner. Where I come from I lost a good amount of friends and it often reminded me of how sacred time is in life. Death sucks, but the grace in our timeless events is that we could get a lot done before time is up. This book helped me in many ways to be optimistic about life and what I would really like to accomplish before I die. Before I die I want to be known as a celebrity/cultural icon...I want to continue reading books and become smarter than ever,I want to learn a lot of new things including languages,I want to meditate,I want to help & positively influence people across the world, whether it's through my art or through music, or through my actions speaking to people. I would like to be in history forever,like Dr. King, like Malcolm X, like Garvey, like Ghandi, like Ali, like Tupac Shakur, like Oprah who's a living legend--who I wanna meet.I want to complete my autobiography, I also would like a wife and kids. You'd do yourself a favor picking up this great book, it does have a way of defeating your thought of procrastination and in most ways it reminds you to remember what grace is. I recommend this book to anyone...you'll be inspired when you read it. I'll buy my own copy. -- Clifford Onehundredd 3/3/2017

[Áine · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the introduction:

"In our age of digital distraction, it's more important than ever to find ways to maintain perspective and remember that life is brief and tender. It's easy to go with the flow and postpone our deepest needs. It's easy to take the people we love for granted and leave things unsaid. And it's far too easy to neglect our relationship with ourselves. The mythologist Joseph Campbell once said, "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." To be true to ourselves, we need to take the time to step back, pause, be quiet, and reflect as we continue to grow and change. With every experience, we gain new perspectives that can reshape our guiding star.

Our public spaces are as profound as we allow them to be. They are our shared spaces and reflect what matters to us as a community and as individuals. The historian Lewis Mumford once wrote that the origins of society were not just for physical survival but for sacred things that offer "a more valuable and meaningful kind of life." 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. They can help us grieve together and celebrate together and console one another and be alone together. 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

I heard about this book and ordered it soon after. While it was in the mail, I received the unexpected news of the death of a beloved friend who was both a teacher and mentor to me. Life is brief and tender.

This book is a beautiful document of an ongoing, beautiful worldwide project. I brought Chang's words (above) to the Labyrinth Resource Group of Santa Fe where we are thinking about how to help people access the reflective tool of the labyrinth in public spaces; I really value her perspective on public space and being alone together.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. I have seen newscasts about the "Before I Die" walls and was curious how that data would aggregate into a full book. This is definitely one of those situations where you have the not judge the book by it's cover. It has textbook binding! If I saw this on the shelf at a store, it's definitely not a book I'd pick up, which is sad because the content is engaging.

As for the layout, it's graphic novel-esque. Each page is divided into sections highlighting quotes and showing parts of the wall. I kind of wish the author hadn't chosen to display the same section of wall as the quote, but I guess she was trying to bring additional attention to those quotes if someone weren't reading all of them.

I particularly liked the aggregation chapter. I wish it had gone into greater depth. I also liked the section showing boards that are similar to "Before I Die" like "When I Graduate" and "Happiness Is". This is an art form I hope to experience somewhere I live. It was great that the author included information on how I might make my own should I choose to.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a close friend of Cindy Chang’s died unexpectedly, it served as a reminder to remember what’s important in life. She thought of what she wanted to do with her life, the kind of person she wanted to become, and to love well. As Chang’s priorities changed, she was moved to ask others what their hopes and dreams were. What started as “Before I Die…” being painted on an abandoned building with chalk paint, had grown to hundreds of these public and anonymous walls in over thirty countries.
This book is a tribute to the success of these installations and the touching, funny, and optimistic words which collectively can “nourish our well-being and help us see that we’re not alone”.

I saw one of these chalkboard walls on the lawn of the state capital building in Denver. I was so impressed with the concept and content of what passersby had written, that I took photos of it. It was so jam packed with writing, that I didn’t add my own thoughts. I walked away feeling elated.

[N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have loved to see more photos taken directly off the "Before I Die" walls to allow for reading a broader variety of what was written on them, but I really enjoyed this book about the worldwide spread of the author's idea to set up a wall where people could end the sentence, "Before I die I want to _____." It was fascinating learning about how and where the project began, how quickly the walls filled up, how it brought people together and made them think. As I read, I found myself mentally sorting similar thoughts on a variety of walls but the author nicely added a pie chart and some lists describing the most common sentiments. It also made me think about things I really want to do while I still have the time and made me realize just how many of the things I was reading off those walls I've *already* done.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I Die would be a fantastic coffee table book. It would work great at a doctor's office or other waiting area. It'd be great to peruse casually at a coffee shop. Not so great for actual information or for a straight read-through.

Before I Die is a cool concept: chalkboard walls set up in many cities the world over with the prompt "Before I die I want to_____." Most seem to be in English, but there are many different languages represented also. Almost all of them seem to be temporary. They seem to be well-maintained by their creators, and people seem to "behave" rather well about not being cruel in their statements.

What I wished for was more pictures of the walls; more examples of submissions. Some of the featured walls were in other languages, and Candy Chang only bothered to handpick 2-3 submissions to translate and print in her book. I just wanted much more.

[Nicolette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely inspiring project begun by Candy Chang, and what is even more amazing is how others feel spurred to greater heights and choose to engage in their own community goal. The layout of the book is fantastic, drawing the eye all over toward the color and font (a font which I love by the way, have to figure out what it is). I found myself yearning for larger, more colorful photos, but I feel that is an indication of the conditioning we feel about the media we consume; the staged and overwhelming feeling when in reality, photos are not always so gauche. I appreciated the diversity in the locations and was surprised at the variety.


The remix page was interesting, and the stats page was gorgeous and my favorite.

All in all, inspiring and fascinating!

[¤Leila | The Fiction Pixie¤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a community art project that encourages people to dig down deep and share with the world what it is they truly want to do before they die. I think some of the responses are so empowering that they make you strive and feel a renewed sense of faith in humanity. Other responses are so real and so painstakingly familiar that you feel like you could have known these people all your life.

It instills a wonderful sense of community, love, and coziness as you're reading through the desires of other humans. This project branched out from one tiny house to boards all over the world in all different languages. It inspires people and inspires beauty.

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candy Chang took an abandoned house in New Orleans, turned into a chalkboard with chalk, and invited the neighborhood to finish the sentence "Before I die I want to ..." The answers ranged from funny to predictable to thought-provoking. This inspirational book documents how this idea spread world-wide. It is cheering that the top responses across the globe are "love", "live", "be happy", "travel", and "help others".

[Laur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book for $0.75 on bookoutlet during a sale and it is probably the best decision I ever made. I figured it would be boring and I would maybe flip through and look at the pictures but hey it was only $0.75. I was so wrong. It's inspiring, thought-provoking, and such a heartwarming read. I saw at the end that there's a wall in the city next to mine and now I want to go find it. If you're on the fence about this book, go for it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read, and fabulously inspiring. What would you write if you could show the world what you would do before you die, I've got a lot of ideas but which would I write... Well here are what people around the world wrote after one woman saw a blank wall and started something that spread around the world. I loved it.

[Erik Cote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slipped out of my friend's backpack into back seat of my truck...gave it back to her couple days later. Will echo what others have articulated, nice community related project in these days of pervasive disconnect. Made me think, as anything worth reading should I suppose. Will play the guitar well before I go to the happy hunting grounds.