SANTA BARBARA — Hospice of Santa Barbara, in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), seeks to help bring death to life with a “Before I Die” wall, inspired by artist Candy Chang’s first installation on the side of an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans in 2011.
This first local installation of the global art project is on display Oct. 15 through 23 outside the Museum’s Family Resource Center, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara, in conjunction with SBMA’s Día de los Muertos Free Family Day celebration on Oct. 23. While Día de los Muertos traditions center around honoring departed family and friends and supporting their spiritual journeys, Before I Die is a revelation of personal living journeys.
This interactive art installation encourages visitors to pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share personal aspirations in a public space. The collective expression of each person’s mortality creates a powerful wall full of goals and dreams from somber and serious (“get clean,” “tell my mother I love her,” etc.) to optimistic, inspiring, and even whimsical (“hike the Appalachian Trail,” “eat all the candy and sushi in the world”, etc.).
Since 2011, over 2,000 Before I Die walls have been created in over 35 languages and over 70 countries, including Kazakhstan, Iraq, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, and South Africa.
Hospice of Santa Barbara provides no cost, confidential counseling and patient care services to both adults and children who are facing a serious illness, planning for end-of-life care, or grieving the death of a loved one.