原创 2015-08-10 PengQ S. Beijing Today

人类是健忘的。我们看到濒临灭绝生物的死亡纪录，我们感慨，我们唏嘘，我们咒骂偷猎者的无耻，然后继续生活，一成不变。也正因如此，我们需要被提醒。

By Shu Pengqian

To appeal to humans to protect nature, professionals from different fields each try their own ways. Environmentalists hold various activities about environment protection. Writers write articles, and directors shoot documentary films.

各行各业的人都在尽自己所能，为环境保护事业献一份力。画家姚映华，选择用他擅长的画画唤醒人类沉睡的“环境保护意识”。

As for painter Yao Yinghua, he has chosen to use his training and skills to portray the sometimes rocky relationship between humans and nature.

“I’m not a real environmentalist, but I cannot stand people damaging the environment,” Yao said in an interview with Beijing Today. “Modern people are so selfish because they grab everything they need from nature.”

“（我）说不上是（一名环境保护者）吧，但是对于破坏环境的行为我是很气愤的。我觉得当下人对于环境的概念是很清晰的，而且是很现实。将自然的东西能搬的都搬到自己身边，满足一己的私欲。”

The concept of honoring nature is clearly embodied in his series Playing Music for You. In each of the paintings in the series, a person plays a musical instrument such as the piano, guitar or drums, and marine animals are listening.

《为你演奏》系列作品清楚地表现了他对环境的热爱。

Yao was inspired by a BBC program about animals’ survival in nature that he watched in 2012 (he can’t recall its name).

The TV program reminded him of recent news he had seen about the poaching of marine animals.

这个系列作品的创作灵感来源于他看的一个关于海洋动物偷猎现状的BBC节目。

“At that time, newspaper headlines were about various singing talent shows, and news about poaching occupied a small corner in the newspaper,” he said.

然而，那时候的新闻头条都被各种明星选秀之类的娱乐信息占据，关于人类破坏自然的新闻却被搁到了报纸的一角。

This unequal representation stirred him deeply. He thought about bringing music and painting together to call people’s attention on the need to protect animals. In order to highlight the theme, he included a signboard with a human surrounded by a red circle at the center of a painting.

“我想能否将音乐和绘画艺术放在一起来宣传‘保护动物’，然后就想到各种乐器表演啊融入画中，希望无论是音乐还是绘画都可以呼吁大家爱护动物。”《为你演奏》系列就此诞生。

The Giant Bird series also highlights Yao’s passion for nature. A giant bird stands lonely in an open field, surrounded by indifferent people.

Yao said there’s a story behind this series. “Once, my friend asked me for help to take care of his bird temporarily,” he said. Yao agreed but soon regretted because “the bird was trapped in the cage and kept chirping. Its eyes looked so sad.”

The bird made Yao feel guilty. He thought people’s alleged care for animals is false, and they do nothing but look on with their arms folded when animals really need help.

一只被囚困于鸟笼的小鸟启发姚创作《大鸟》系列。

Yao wished people stopped being simple onlookers. Thus, he painted Playing the Piano for You to express his desire.

“In this painting, the human isn’t unconcerned about the animal,” he said. “His playing the piano is a prayer for animals to have a place to live.”

“《为你弹琴》多了一种呼吁的感觉，人类不再只是旁观，他们自己希望能通过某种行为来祈祷他们能有个栖息之地。”