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.

把婆婆的形象画在家门口的围墙上。Painting the image of a granny on the wall outside her community.

从武汉市汉阳区西大街的“墙画”开始，易小阳已经画了近9年，从西大街到琴断口，区内人们的生活场景被他一幅一幅定格在了墙上。

看店的小卖部老板，扶着锄头的太婆，每一个看到自己画像的人，都非常开心。他还记得，有一位太婆就端着锅，乐呵呵地看他画画：“原来围墙上还可以画画啊！”

穿着防护服的医护人员，帐篷里建立的邻里守望点，武汉解封后恢复繁华的街景，过去这一年里难忘的瞬间，都被易小阳画到了墙上。

疫情期间，他经历了失去母亲的痛苦，被隔离在家的他，再一次拿起画笔，记录这座城市里每一个在拼命的普通人：公交公司的大巴方阵、超市里有序整理物资的志愿者、奉献自我的志愿者、互帮互助的邻里。

商店没有营业，买不到纸，他把家里的旧床单作为自己的画布。天上下雨，邻居们为他撑伞在广场上作画，挂绳挂不紧，隔壁送来了订书机，易小阳把一幅在床单上的画作挂在阳台上，激励着每一个同胞的心。

那幅画像一面胜利的旗帜，插在了新冠疫情战争最后的攻坚战场上，当湖北的新增确诊、新增疑似、现有疑似连续三天归零时，人民日报用这幅画，宣告英雄城市的人民意志坚不可摧。

家门口画上风景。Painting local landscapes on the walls of the community.

墙画围墙成了当地一道靓丽风景。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)

用心绘好每一笔。Painting every stroke attentively.

在画室教徒弟画画。Teaching his pupils in the studio.

易小阳现在有了自己的工作室，还有两个徒弟。一个是附近上学的孩子，一个是脑病留下后遗症的残疾人。

今年3月，汉琴社区找到易小阳，请他给社区围墙作画，他立即答应了。“古田桥很美，桥上面经常有人拍婚纱照。”他说，要把桥下的围墙也画成新的美景，让更多的人来这里拍照打卡。

围墙里是一片老旧社区，居民大多是老年人，虽然他们并不太懂画画，但是易小阳画的，他们都能看懂。因为许多人，就是画中的主角。桥下的空地停放的车辆很多，有时候挡住了围墙，影响到作画，街坊们还会主动帮忙打电话，找车主来移车。

现在围墙上的画已经基本完工了，但是易小阳还是不满意：“还有很多可以完善的地方，至少要达到80%让自己满意才行。”

一有空，他就会骑着电动车，带着涂料，一笔一笔，仔细地在围墙上描摹。