Thursday, July 19, 2012 By Claire Burke
Sydney Ducasse (left) and Andy Hernandez add their life goals to Reno's Before I Die blackboard. The board, part of public artist Candy Chang's worldwide public art project, has been hanging near the Riverwalk since early May. - Claire Burke
Quick, close your eyes for a moment and think about the
story of your life. Everything up to this moment: school, career,
relationships, kids. Now, think about the one thing that you still have left to
tick off of your life’s to-do list.
This is exactly what Reno residents have been prompted to do
in the past two months. In early May, public artist Candy Chang, in association
with the local non-profit Black Rock Arts Foundation, brought her “Before I
Die” project to town. The project, which Chang started in New Orleans in 2011
after losing a close friend, is an interactive public art display that allows
residents to share their life goals and aspirations.
The project consists of two large blackboards, each
approximately 40 feet long and eight feet tall. The boards are stenciled with
the simple prompt, “Before I die I want to ____________.” Brightly-colored
chalk allows the public to anonymously write their responses.
Many residents have used the project to post their innermost
thoughts for all to see.
“I wrote ‘Marry Christian’ because...our future is kind of
bouncing up and down right now,” Fernley, Nev., resident Andy Hernandez said of
her relationship with her on-again, off-again boyfriend.
Hernandez’s friend and Reno resident Sydney Ducasse chose to
share her similarly intimate life goal.
“I wrote ‘Save Lives’ because I want to become a doctor,”
Ducasse said.
Hernandez and Ducasse, as local contributors to the Reno
board, illustrate exactly what creator Chang’s goal for the project was.
In the press kit for her project, Chang said that in
installing Before I Die boards in cities across the world, she wanted to bring
neighbors together to pass along wisdom that would normally be lost in the
shuffle of day-to-day life.
She also said that she would like to encourage the public to
take a step back and really appreciate their lives by forcing them to think
about their deaths. Maintaining a clear perspective on death really clarifies
life, Chang said in the press kit.
This sentiment was very much reflected in Hernandez’s
response.
“What I want to do before I die is basically marry
[Christian] because I’ve never had such a great person to be with in my entire
life,” she said.
Ducasse echoed the value of her life’s aspirations.
“[Saving lives] just seems really important,” she said. “I
just want to feel like a hero.”