On a street in New Orleans is an old building. It used to be a grocery store. But now it is empty. On the boards covering the windows are stickers. Each sticker says "I wish this was...". Someone has written "full of food" on one of the stickers.
When we think of public art, we often think of sculptures or other large works of art in city centers. Candy Chang's public art, however, is somewhere else. Chang makes her art in a city's older or poorer neighborhoods. She uses the outside walls of empty buildings as her painting cloth. She paints, writes messages, or puts stickers on them. Chang wants to reach out to people with her art. She sees it as the start of a conversation - a conversation with local people.
In 2010, Chang started the "I Wish This Was" project in New Orleans. Chang asked people to look at the abandoned buildings in their community. She wanted them to think about what else could be there. She printed hundreds of small stickers and stuck them on these buildings. The stickers said "I wish this was" in large letters and included a space for people to write. Anyone could write anything. Chang was amazed at the reaction. Hundreds of people wrote on the stickers. Someone wrote, "I wish this was a grocery store". Another person wrote, "I wish this was Heaven.
There are many abandoned buildings in neighborhoods around the world. It's hard for people to create a close neighborhood if the streets are full of empty buildings. By making art that gives people a voice, Chang hopes to build stronger communities. Chang's art projects get people thinking and. talking about problems in their community. This initiative may help city planners to create better cities - ones that truly meet the needs of people.
