The owner of a local interior design firm is bringing the "Before I Die" movement to the Okanagan.
The first Before I Die wall was painted on an abandoned building in New Orleans in 2011.
A woman named Candy Chang struggled with depression and grief after the sudden death of a loved one left her contemplating everything they wanted to do before they died.
Chang cut a homemade stencil that said, “Before I died I want to______.,” painted the side of the building with chalkboard paint, and stenciled it so anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on death and life and share personal aspirations in public.
The next day, the entire wall was filled.
The global art project has now grown to over 5000 thousand black walls and spread to 78 countries in 36 different languages.
Owner of Evolve Design|Build, Jules Galloway is running the Kelowna chapter.
She said the initiative invites people to contemplate death and reflect upon their lives.
“The idea behind it is to bring everybody together, understanding that we do all have mortality in common and when you see something up there that say "I want to get over my depression," "I want to feel better about myself," those things really bring people together. They make people understand that we all have the same issues,” said Galloway.
She added it forces people to confront their life goals and death.
“The only rule is that we don't change the verbiage. It's supposed to have you questioning everything. So I think people do have a tough time with [death] and I think when people start thinking about what they want to achieve, maybe it makes them do it today or take a few steps today to get there,” said Galloway.
The plan is to have four installations in Kelowna before summer.
Black chalk walls will be located in the Cultural District, at UBCO, at Third Space Café in the Landmark District, and near Sutherland and Ethel.
Galloway says the importance of this project “is realizing some dreams, as well as being more intentional about your behaviour, as well as looking up on that wall and seeing that people are suffering with depression, people do have dreams, people are like you no matter whether they're rich or poor.”