Way More than a Bucket List

At Greenbuild this month, when walking in the entrance to Moscone North on Howard Street, you’ll see it. The slabs of chalkboard will be at the hall entrance. Show attendees will be waiting in line. It’s not another talk. Not another green display. Chalk in hand, some participants may be dashing off something carelessly, others will be more thoughtful. All will be completing the sentence “Before I die…” This is Public Art.

The project was begun by Candy Chang in New Orleans in Feb. 2011. After experiencing the loss of someone close to her, she got to thinking about what was truly important in life. What was really imperative to do before she died?

In this dark time, she began to wonder what was important to her friends and neighbors. Through a series of events she painted an abandoned home with blackboard paint. She stenciled “Before I die I want to ____” on the blackboard over and over again. She left pieces of chalk by the boards.

An amazing thing happened. People wrote. It was more than a bucket list. People shared hopes and dreams on it. Hearts opened. A writer wanted to be published. An ex-husband wanted his ex-wife back. A lover wanted to hold “her” one more time in his arms. Someone just wanted to “understand.” Each night the blackboard wall was washed off. And each day the boards filled up again.

The blackboards—now dubbed a global public art project—have appeared in Philadelphia, Orlando, Chile, Germany, the UAE and more. Now they will be visiting Greenbuild in San Francisco.

Don’t miss this opportunity to stop by and leave your mark.

Greenbuild: Will you be there? We will! Nov 14-16 San Francisco.

http://www.greenbuildexpo.org

See other walls and their participants’ thoughts here:

http://beforeidie.cc/site/blog/category/walls/

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