Jason deCaires Taylor
[3] He is best known for installing site-specific underwater sculptures that develop naturally into artificial coral reefs,[4] which local communities and marine life depend on.
[16] The only son of an English father and Guyanese mother, Taylor was educated in Kent with further studies at Camberwell College of Arts Institute of London, where he graduated in 1998 with a B.A Honours degree in Sculpture and Ceramics.
[18] All of these artworks are located in the world's first public underwater sculpture park in the Caribbean Sea in Molinere Bay, Grenada, West Indies,[19] and situated in a section of coastline that was badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
[17] Taylor's works create haunting, enigmatic underwater scenes, often depicting the mundaneness of life on dry land transported into an alchemic new environment.
Instead of the entropic process typically associated with the ocean's corrosive tendencies, Taylor's pieces encourage organisms to grow and affect the surfaces of his creations.
[24] The Cancún Underwater Museum (Museo Subacuático de Arte, known as MUSA)[4] holds more than 485 of Taylor's submerged sculptures and 30 land-based pieces.
Other works include El colecionista de los sueños (The Dream Collector), a man archiving messages found inside bottles that have been brought together by the oceans’ currents.
The artwork consists of more than 400 individual sculptures that immortalised about 90 real-life models from the nearby fishing village of Puerto Morelos to create a community of people, standing in defence of their oceans.
[31] Taylor's immense sculpture modelled after a local Bahamian girl, depicts her carrying the weight of the ocean, referencing the ancient Greek myth of Atlas.
"I quite like the idea that the piece sits in the eye line of the place where many politicians and so many people who are involved in climate change all work and make these damaging deals and policies, yet who are in this state of mad denial," Taylor said.
[38] Amongst the figures life-cast by Taylor for The Raft of Lampedusa was Abdel Kader, a refugee from Laayoune, who made his own journey by boat to Lanzarote when he was 13 years old.
Following the removal and destruction of the 30 figurative sculptures in September 2018, which was ordered by President Abdulla Yameen, alternative artworks were integrated into the gallery and further sustainable initiatives have since been introduced.
[47] Ocean Siren, a tidal sculpture located at the Strand Jetty in Townsville, was commissioned by MOUA and acts as a warning beacon for climate change.
[48][49] Taylor's third underwater museum, The Coral Greenhouse located in John Brewer Reef, comprises a 58-ton greenhouse-like structure made from marine grade stainless steel and 20 figurative sculptures placed in and around the building.
[53] Before the museum could be installed, the site had to be cleared of disused marine infrastructure debris and officially cordoned off to protect visitors as well as the six large sculptures and surrounding posidonia sea grass meadows.
Once submerged, visitors can view the remaining 93 artworks, which are situated 8 – 10 metres below the water's surface in a ravine of sand located in between natural rock formations.
[67] The sculptures are positioned in precise locations on the sea bed to avoid contact from strong currents and tidal patterns and are installed at the correct time for coral spawning to maximize their potential influence to the oceanic ecosystem.
[23] Art writer, Dr David De Russo, writes that "the sculptures are a living evolutionary exhibition as nature colonizes, and the sea and tidal movement deform their appearance developing a platform which will promote the re-generation of marine life.
[65] In 2016, Taylor produced Plasticide, a land-based artwork that depicts an idyllic family beach scene, which is interrupted by seagulls regurgitating plastic.
