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What's Inspiring us Today? Creating Connection.

What's Inspiring us Today? Creating Connection.

The crew here at Ethnotek are always passing along blog posts, photos, stories, just about anything, really, that we find inspiring.  

What's inspiring us right now? 
Connection.   We love stories of connection.  Connecting is the very heart and soul of what we do at Ethnotek.  That is why we share the stories of our artisans and the stories of our (mis)adventures, and that is why we ask you to share your stories. 
We've found a brilliant TED speaker whose amazing projects are leaving us inspired to get out and connect with others.  
Candy Chang, Artist+New Orleans Gal+Designer+Community Creator
Have 6 minutes to get inspired? Check out the talk Candy gave at TEDGlobal 2012
 
 
Candy Chang feels passionately about creating connection in her community. After the death of a close friend, she became inspired to create a way in which her neighbors could express their feelings about what is most important in life and share it with their neighbors.  For Candy's "Before I Die" project, she turned the side of an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans into a giant chalkboard and stenciled it with the sentence “Before I die I want to _______.” so anyone walking by can pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in public space.  "The wall transformed a neglected space into a constructive one where we can understand our neighbors in new and enlightening ways, restore perspective, and remember we are not alone." 
 
She was surprised at the honest, heartbreaking, hilarious, off-the-wall, and beautiful responses the project evoked.  
 
Here are some of the photos from her the "Before I Die" Project in New Orleans. 

The was such a success that it has expanded to countries around the world including Kazakhstan, South Africa, the Netherlands, Mexico, Australia, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, and beyond. 
Want to see more of Candy's inspiring work?  Check out her site http://candychang.com/
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