‘Before I Die’ walls elicit profound, profane responses

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It is public art made of private wishes.

In a phenomenon spreading across the globe, oversized blackboards, painted-on buildings and freestanding displays invite passers-by to complete the sentence: “Before I die I want to …”

Answers, some profound, some profane, are written on stenciled lines with pieces of sidewalk chalk picked from the ground below.

“… make my dad proud.”

“… find the yin to my yang.”

Since artist Candy Chang created the first wall on an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood in 2011, more than 400 walls have gone up in the United States and more than 60 other countries, including Kazakhstan, Mexico, Iraq, Haiti, South Korea and South Africa.

“… be happy.”

“… see Italy.”

“I’ve been surprised by how quickly people have dropped their guards and written sincere and sometimes heartbreaking things on these walls,” said Chang, who said the first wall was inspired by the loss of a loved one. “It reassures me that I’m not alone as I try to make sense of my life.”

“… eat more everything.”

“… get my wife back.”

“… slow down for a moment and maybe even stop.”

“It’s an honest mess of the longing, anxiety, joy, pain, gratitude, insecurity and wonder you find in every community. … It’s like collective therapy in public space,” said Chang, responding to questions via email. Chang earned a master’s degree in urban planning and sees in public spaces the potential to unify and communicate.

Her own entries have ranged from “enjoy more places with the people I love” to “revive a ghost town.”

“I don’t know if maybe you’re more likely to do it because now it’s out there for the world to see, there’s just something magical about stuff like this,” said Sara McAlister, 22, after stopping to write on a former factory building in Syracuse. “I think putting it out there, even considering the question, is going to make a difference.”

“Travel the world,” “brighten someone’s day,” wrote McAlister, a bartender who recently finished a master’s degree in social work at Syracuse University.

“And between you and me, I wrote, marry this one over here,” she said, nodding toward her boyfriend, Patrick Kraushaar, 26, who was writing “inspire someone positively” and “make my family proud.”