Jason deCaires Taylor creates artificial reefs by sinking cement sculptures in the ocean. This unique artist merged his love of the sea and his passion for art in a public display like no other has before. He “created the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies”. His work hasn’t stopped there, he has projects in Greece, Canterbury and Mexico. The images shown below are examples of some of his work featured in Cancun, Mexico. I purposefully picked images that show the growth of the new reef. The video, above, shows the process of the entire project.

I was entranced when I stumbled upon this website, spending over an hour viewing the photo galleries and reading information about individual sculptures. The video and photos are of such beautiful quality for being taken underwater. One of the first things that occurred to me as I watched the video is that in a matter of years, the sculptures will no longer be recognizable as human. At some point in time the reef will overtake the features of the sculpture. This can already be witnessed on such forms as the one in the last image below. An alien-like mask covers the face, in a way giving a “fleshy” appearance to the human form. Jason also has slideshows of two of his sculptures, showing multiple shots of the same sculpture over time and therefore the growth of the reef. I am curious to see what shapes and sizes, colors and creatures these forms will take on as time passes by, literally becoming “living art”.

For those of you who are now speculating about the effect of sinking foreign objects into the sea, be assured – these sculptures are actually HELPING our reefs! According to the information on Jason’s site, “Only about 10 – 15% of the sea bed has a solid enough substratum to allow reefs to form naturally. In order to increase the number of reefs in these areas artificial reefs have recently been created from materials that are durable, secure and environmentally sensitive. These reefs appear to have been successful in that they have attracted coral growth which, in turn, can support an entire marine ecosystem.” To read more, please click here. I was disappointed that I could not find more information about how they anchor the sculptures to the sea floor (you can see them do this in the video during the installation of the sculptures). I would be concerned as to what may happen if there were a hurricane or other natural disaster in the area that houses the sculptures. I can imagine if those cement sculptures got loose they could do a good bit of damage. Each sculpture weighs over a ton! However, there would need to be a very strong tide to carry such a heavy object and inflict damage to any existing reefs.

It is now a goal of mine to witness this experimental project myself. I think it would be amazing to have the opportunity to dive amongst a multitude of sculptures. Especially those that embody the young and old, of all different ethnicity and social backgrounds – for each of these sculptures were based on real people from all over our globe. This artificial reef brings public and environmental art to a new level, and I want to be a part of that.

Perhaps one of the more striking sculptures, this one makes a statement about Americans and their lifestyle….

Tags: artificial reef, Cancun, environmental art, experiemental art, human scuplture, inspriation, Jason deCaires Taylor, living art, Mexico, public art, scuba, scuba art, scuba diving, underwater sculpture