San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
The last time I wrote about artist Candy Chang, she was inspiring two San Diego artist to start their "This is Where" sticker project.
Now the new Triangle Building gallery and project space has constructed Chang's "Before I Die" interactive mural. With the help of roll-on chalkboard paint, the mural asks participants to fill in the blanks and finish the simple sentence, "Before I die I want to..."
Here's what the always-eloquent Chang has to say about the piece:
It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day life and forget what really matters to you. With help from friends and neighbors, I turned the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood into a giant chalkboard to invite people to share their dreams in public space. Before I Die transformed a neglected space into a constructive one where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us. It’s a question that changed me over the last year after I lost someone I loved very much.
The reaction to the wall was more than I could have ever imagined.
From the funny and creative to the thoughtful and heartbreaking, the
responses have made me laugh out loud and also tear up. Stories from
passersby hit me hard in the heart, and the worldwide response to this
project has been incredible — thank you! Due to the enthusiastic
response, we’ve created a Before I Die Toolkit with a stencil and guide to help you create a wall with your community. We’ve created limited edition paintings, and you can also submit your dreams online on the project website.
This is one experiment to try to make our neighborhoods more ours and
remind us why we want to be alive in the world today. Together, I hope
we can change the way our public spaces are designed to better reflect
what is important to us as a community and as individuals.
The mural on the Triangle Building was done by San Diego artist Adrienne Jumelet. In a Facebook post, Triangle Gallery owners asked San Diegans to, "Come by and check out the wall.... add your thoughts."
