British artist Jason de Caires Taylor explores the relationships between art and the environment, creating artificial reefs like no other.
Much of this young artist’s childhood was spent on the coral reefs of Malaysia where he developed a profound love of the sea and a fascination with the natural world. This would later lead him to spend several years working as a scuba diving instructor in various parts of the globe, developing a strong interest in conservation, underwater naturalism and photography.
During his teenage years, he also worked as a graffiti artist which fuled his interest in the relationship between art and the environment and fostered an ambition to produce art in public spaces. Later yet, experience in Canterbury Cathedral taught him traditional stone carving techniques, and, five years working in set design and concert installations exposed him to cranes, lifting, logistics and completing projects on a grand scale.
All together, these experiences have lead him to produce and install some of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of life size sculpture, placed under water, all with the intention of calling attention to coral reefs as one of the oldest and most bio-diverse ecosystems on Earth. Because…scientists predict at present rates of decline that 70% of the world’s coral reefs will die by 2050. He feels it’s up to us to make sure this does not happen.
He carves cement instead of stone and supervising cranes while in full scuba gear to create artificial reefs submerged below the surface of the Sea. These ambitious public works have a functional aspect…to facilitating positive interactions between people and fragile underwater habitats. These sculptures are in a constant state of change alongside tidal movement, shifting ocean sands and the eventual growth of corals and marine life. As the sculptures interact with their underwater environment in unpredictable ways, the art becomes more interesting and more complex, acting as artificial reefs that provide “an ideal habitat for filter feeding organisms.”
The video below shows his collection of over 68 underwater sculptures located in Grenada and the UK. In a constant state of change affected by the oceans temperament…this video details the transformations of the pieces over a 2 year period.
The new series currently in progress by Jason is being installed in the Cancun Underwater Museum in Mexico , where de Caires Taylor is currently in residence as the Artistic Director (it is due to open officially next month); the works will encourage tourism to the gallery, and hopefully away from the delicate reefs nearby thereby reducing wear and tear on the natural reefs. Local tour operators ferry visitors to the site for diving, snorkeling or glass-bottom-boat rides. 250 of the 400 life size Statues are casted from local members of the community.
I think it is indeed a Little Bit of Beauty™…and would love to see more people making such a beautiful statement!
Would you agree with me that it is inspiring to see someone use such an incredible talent to save a natural resource?
Comments
21 Comments
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AMAZING…
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Oh my goodness! an amazing article dude. Thank you However I am experiencing issue with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone getting identical rss problem? Anyone who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
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Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
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I don’t normally comment on blogs.. But nice post! I just bookmarked your site
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Hey webmaster, commenters and everyone else !!! blog was absolutely wonderful!
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Author
Glad you enjoyed it….come back and visit again soon!
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Thanks for your kind words and for stopping by. Enjoy!
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Hallo, ich habe Ihre Seite über Google gefunden und muss sagen, dass diese mir sehr gefällt! Schön übersichtlich und informativ 🙂
Es sollte mehr solcher qualitativen Seiten geben!
MFG Peter
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thanks for sharing Irene- BEAUTIFUL!
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Beautiful and quite spiritual! Thanks for sharing Irene!
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Thanks for stopping by Leslie!
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