Bringing death out from behind closed doors

The cube at Historic Village on 17th Ave. Supplied photos.

The Tauranga Death Café Community is bringing the conversation around dying and death, mortality and life, out from behind the closed café doors.

How? With a giant chalkboard cube, lots of coloured chalk and the invitation. Before I Die I want to…
The Before I Die Wall Tauranga is a participatory art installation, it's organic and alive, being at the whim of wit and weather, says a spokesperson for the death café.

Everyone who passes by is invited to take part, both in writing on the cube wall, and through the conversations that may spark from the invitation.

'The cube wall becomes a visual record of the thoughts and feelings in our community, around what matters most, goals, fears, dreams and aspirations.

'A snapshot of the hearts and minds of the people we share this town with. Photos of the cube will be regularly updated on Instagram.”

The original wall was created on an abandoned house in New Orleans, created by the artist Candy Chang after the death of someone she loved.

Today, there are more than 4000 walls around the world.

The Tauranga cube will become part of the global community paying tribute to living an examined life.

'From the outset, this project has fired up hearty conversations with the generous team of supporters working to create the cube at the Tauranga Historic Village.”

The construction of the cube has been trusted to the capable hands of the Men's Shed.

'Arts advice and consultation was gratefully received from the Incubator Creative Hub, as was the enthusiastic backing from Creative BOP.”

The Before I Die Wall will be officially launched at the Tauranga Historic Village on Sunday.

A pop up Death Café will also be happening beside the cube on this day starting at 11am. The cube will be onsite at the Historic Village for a limited time over summer.

The Tauranga Death Café community is a group of folk from a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and ethnicity.

The core team of volunteers who are overseeing the project bring skills like building, event management, planning, art and humour.

Funding for this project provided through Tauranga City Council and the Creative Community Scheme NZ

Instagram: beforeidiewall_tauranga
Facebook: @beforeidiewalltauranga

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