Kaleidoscopic Lives on the Walls

Text by Chen Qian

Photos by Liu Zhongcan

Starting his mural career on West Street,Hanyang District,Wuhan,Yi Xiaoyang has now been painting for nine years.Scenes of daily life have been preserved on numerous walls from West Street to Qinduankou Street.

From a shopkeeper to an old lady holding a hoe,everyone is delighted to see themselves painted on the walls.He still remembers one time,a granny,with a pot in her hands,was amazed to see him at work.“I didn’t know you could paint on the walls!”

Medical workers in protective clothing,neighborhood watchpoint tents,and the bustling street life after the reopen of Wuhan on April 8,2020—all these unforgettable moments in the past year have been painted on walls by Yi Xiaoyang.

During the epidemic,Yi lost his beloved mother.While isolated at home,he picked up his brush and painted the daily lives of ordinary people in the city:arrays of transit company buses,staff sorting out goods in the supermarkets,dedicated volunteers,and neighbors helping and supporting each other.

Since art shops were closed and no supplies could be bought,he used his old bed sheets as canvases.When it was raining,some neighbors held an umbrella for him while watching him paint on the old bedding.Seeing a loose hanging string,a neighbor brought a stapler for him to fix it.Yi hung one of his bed sheet paintings on the balcony,inspiring everyone who saw it.

把婆婆的形象畫在家門口的圍墻上。Painting the image of a granny on the wall outside her community.

從武漢市漢陽區西大街的“墻畫”開始，易小陽已經畫了近9年，從西大街到琴斷口，區內人們的生活場景被他一幅一幅定格在了墻上。

看店的小賣部老板，扶著鋤頭的太婆，每一個看到自己畫像的人，都非常開心。他還記得，有一位太婆就端著鍋，樂呵呵地看他畫畫：“原來圍墻上還可以畫畫??！”

穿著防護服的醫護人員，帳篷里建立的鄰里守望點，武漢解封后恢復繁華的街景，過去這一年里難忘的瞬間，都被易小陽畫到了墻上。

疫情期間，他經歷了失去母親的痛苦，被隔離在家的他，再一次拿起畫筆，記錄這座城市里每一個在拼命的普通人：公交公司的大巴方陣、超市里有序整理物資的志愿者、奉獻自我的志愿者、互幫互助的鄰里。

商店沒有營業，買不到紙，他把家里的舊床單作為自己的畫布。天上下雨，鄰居們為他撐傘在廣場上作畫，掛繩掛不緊，隔壁送來了訂書機，易小陽把一幅在床單上的畫作掛在陽臺上，激勵著每一個同胞的心。

那幅畫像一面勝利的旗幟，插在了新冠疫情戰爭最后的攻堅戰場上，當湖北的新增確診、新增疑似、現有疑似連續三天歸零時，人民日報用這幅畫，宣告英雄城市的人民意志堅不可摧。

家門口畫上風景。Painting local landscapes on the walls of the community.

墻畫圍墻成了當地一道靚麗風景。The wall has become a beautiful landscape in the community.

The very painting was like a victory flag flying on the battlefield of the war against COVID-19.When the new confirmed,new suspected,and existing suspected cases in Hubei all returned to zero for three consecutive days,The People’s Dailyused it to show how strong and brave the residents of this heroic city had been.

Now Yi has his own studio and two pupils.One is a child who attends a nearby school and the other a disabled person with the sequela of a brain disease.

One day in March this year,a social worker from Hanqin Community found Yi and asked him if he’d like to paint on the community wall.He immediately agreed.“Gutian Bridge is very beautiful,” he said.“People often have their wedding photos taken there.” He decided to paint the wall under the bridge as well,so that more people would visit and take photos.

Inside the wall is an old community where most of the residents are elderly people.Although they don’t know much about painting,they understand Yi Xiaoyang’s work,because many of them are in his pictures.Sometimes when the vehicles parked in the open area under the bridge block the wall,people living nearby would volunteer to help Yi find the owners and get them to move their cars.

Up to the day,the murals outside Hanqin Community seemed pretty much done,but Yi wasn’t absolutely satisfied.“There’s still a lot that could be improved.At least I need to be 80% satisfied with the results.”

Whenever he’s free,he’d ride his electric bike,carry his paints and,stroke by stroke,carefully paint on the walls.(Translation:Liu Lili)

用心繪好每一筆。Painting every stroke attentively.

在畫室教徒弟畫畫。Teaching his pupils in the studio.

易小陽現在有了自己的工作室，還有兩個徒弟。一個是附近上學的孩子，一個是腦病留下后遺癥的殘疾人。

今年3月，漢琴社區找到易小陽，請他給社區圍墻作畫，他立即答應了?！肮盘飿蚝苊?，橋上面經常有人拍婚紗照?！彼f，要把橋下的圍墻也畫成新的美景，讓更多的人來這里拍照打卡。

圍墻里是一片老舊社區，居民大多是老年人，雖然他們并不太懂畫畫，但是易小陽畫的，他們都能看懂。因為許多人，就是畫中的主角。橋下的空地停放的車輛很多，有時候擋住了圍墻，影響到作畫，街坊們還會主動幫忙打電話，找車主來移車。

現在圍墻上的畫已經基本完工了，但是易小陽還是不滿意：“還有很多可以完善的地方，至少要達到80%讓自己滿意才行?！?/p>

一有空，他就會騎著電動車，帶著涂料，一筆一筆，仔細地在圍墻上描摹。