What did you want to become as a child, and what have you become today? But most importantly, what do you want to be today?

Public installation, urban planner and designer Candy Chang makes you reflect on your life journey through her project entitled simply Career Path, based in Turku, Finland, a program part of the city being the 2011 European Capital of Culture.

Surprisingly, the public art project is located in a residential area, on a path named “Career Path”, or Uraputki, because it is often chosen by students walking from home to the University of Turku.

Fill in the blank statements were stenciled on the street, saying “When I was little I wanted to be __. Today I want to be __“. Passers-by are invited to complete the sentences with their own personal choice, the space being transformed into an interactive one in this way.

The idea behind the project is on one hand, to make people reflect on their life choices, and on the other hand, to compare their present desires with the ones they had as a child. Also, participants are invited to understand others’ choices and desires, and realize if they changed or not.

The chalk is temporary, fading away very quickly because of the traffic and weather, but being constantly renewed by pedestrians. Maybe the fact that the question is stenciled in Finnish, Swedish or English helps a little bit.

My favorite statement, from the ones featured in the pictures:

When I was little I wanted to be grown-up. Today I want to be a kid.

How about you? What did you want back then, and what do you want today?

Enjoy the rest of the pictures below and a video of the artist saying more about what this project represents.

Photos by Candy Chang from her website.