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Grenadines Encyclopedia
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The Underwater Sculpture Gallery
Located: Moliniere Bay, Grenada. The Underwater Sculpture Gallery in Grenada, West Indies is a project started in May 2006 by sculptor Jason Taylor, with the support the of the Grenadian Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
Full picture Gallery
This is a unique artistic enterprise, celebrating Caribbean culture and highlighting environmental processes, such as coral reef re-generation.
The Underwater Sculpture Park also explores the ever-changing relationships of Art and the environment, whilst providing a unique and fascinating marine park for scuba diving and snorkelling.
The aim of the Sculpture Park is to create a unique space which highlights environmental processes and celebrates local culture.
By creating an artificial reef of sculptures which depict Grenadian peoples and their history, the project fulfils its dual purpose of protecting the marine environment and illustrating the richness of Grenada.
Grenada is renowned for its diving experience. This unique project will provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore a dynamic seascape and to appreciate the island?s beauty and diversity.
In the longer term, the sculpture park aims to encourage local artists and to provide a canvas for them to express themselves and to commemorate Grenadian history and folklore. Aims
The aim of the Sculpture Park is to create a unique space which highlights environmental processes and celebrates local culture. By creating an artificial reef of sculptures which depict Grenadian peoples and their history, the project fulfils its dual purpose of protecting the marine environment and illustrating the richness of Grenada.
Grenada is renowned for its diving experience. This unique project will provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore a dynamic seascape and to appreciate the island?s beauty and diversity. In the longer term, the sculpture park aims to encourage local artists and to provide a canvas for them to express themselves and to commemorate Grenadian history and folklore.
The Gallery
An underwater gallery creates a whole new perspective on the world. Submerged objects are affected by different conditions both physical and emotional. Objects appear 25% larger and closer, colours are changed as light is absorbed differently by the water. The surface of the sea creates an ever-changing kaleidoscope of light, whilst its turbidity acts as a filter. The aquatic medium affords the viewer a multitude of angles and perspectives and thus transforms the traditional role of passive observer into an active process of discovery and engagement.
The ocean provides a setting imbued with mystery. Observers are invited to appreciate the works of art whilst questioning their circumstances and history.
The viewer is immediately committed and involved to the environment and becomes part of the work itself. The sculptures will be an ever changing exhibition as nature colonizes the surface and the sea and tidal movement shapes the texture.
The uniqueness of the setting challenges traditional views of ourselves and our environment, transcending the boundaries separating land and water, and decompartmentalising social preconceptions. The constant flux of the marine environment on the sculptures mirrors the vicissitudes of our own lives.
Environmental Processes
Any ridged structure underwater creates an artificial reef.
This in turn allows hard and soft corals, algae and sponges to colonise it. These organisms are the basis of many Caribbean reef ecosystems and attract an array of marine life including a spectrum of colourful reef fish, turtles, sea urchins and pelagic creatures such as sharks and rays.
Enclosed spaces also allow many creatures to breed and provide shelter for smaller creatures to take refuge.
The sculptures themselves are cast in concrete and steel and then fixed and secured to the ocean substrate. Care has been taken to ensure that no substances harmful the environment are used.
The Gallery
An underwater gallery creates a whole new perspective on the world. Submerged objects are affected by different conditions both physical and emotional. Objects appear 25% larger and closer, colours are changed as light is absorbed differently by the water.
The surface of the sea creates an ever-changing kaleidoscope of light, whilst its turbidity acts as a filter.
The aquatic medium affords the viewer a multitude of angles and perspectives and thus transforms the traditional role of passive observer into an active process of discovery and engagement.
'' The Artist Jason Taylor was born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother. Educated in South East England, he graduated at Camberwell College of Art, London Institute with a B.A.Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. He has exhibited sculptures in several public spaces, including Trafalgar Square, Regents Park, Waterloo and Camberwell. He is a fully qualified dive instructor with over 14 years of diving experience in a variety of countries worldwide.
His artistic development has been inspired by the works of Richard Long, Christo and Claus Oldenberg, whose focus on the connection between the object and the environment in which it is placed reflects his own experience: ?I encountered change from an early age as my family moved from one cultural environment to another. This was the beginning of my fascination with how objects and relationships change as landscapes and contexts alter.?
Jason Taylor also undertakes private and commercial sculpture projects, both land and sea based.
Acknowledgements - A very special thanks to all those involved in this project:
The Grenadian Board of Tourism, The Fisheries Dept, Phil & Mick at Dive Grenada, Nina, Grace, Donna, Steve & Creative designs team, Charles, Tina, Emma, Lian, Matt Barker at Artwerk, Yousuf, Christine & Roy, The Lance Epines Builders, Christian Sandino-Taylor, Ricardo, Beverly Sinclair, Ross Engineering, Mr Narain, Danny Donelan and Grenada Arts Council.
The Sculptures
Grace
This installation consists of 16 figures, cast from a Grenadian woman called Grace. Each statue is individual and representational of Grenada?s close relationship to the sea. The front and back profiles of Grace are placed in an area of sand and debris to encourage the formation of coral and to attract marine life. Thus, over time, the sculptures will mirror the on-going evolution of the island and its people. Their placement is in an area where the reef system has been decimated by storm damage and is designed to rejuvenate the site.
' La Diablesse (La jah-bless) - from the French, she-devil
Depth 7.5m 2.2x .50m
This piece of work was produced in association with the Grenadian Board of Tourism. The aim was to celebrate Caribbean story-telling and folklore.
The Devil Woman roams at night. Her face resembles that of a corpse, hidden under a beautiful wide-brimmed hat. She is dressed exquisitely in a white blouse and a long petticoated skirt which hides her feet.
The left foot is cloven and warns her victims of her ominous approach. Despised by women, she enchants men and lures them to their doom by walking them off a cliff or stamping on their heads with her cloven foot.
It is believed that when a woman dies during childbirth she returns as La Diablesse. The observer is confronted by the sculpture having been drawn to it though a labyrinth-like formation of coral.
The Lost Correspondent
Depth 7m 1.4x .43m
This sculpture documents the rapid change in communications over the last few decades.
It explores the declining role of the traditional writer.
As the sculpture decays and takes on the patina of obsolescence, the writer as communicator becomes a fossil in a lost world.
The desk is laminated with original newspaper articles dating back to the 1970?s, some of which detail Grenada?s relationship with Cuba preceding the revolution.
Read about the Grenada Revolution and Maurice Bishop.
The male figure is a life cast of local Dive master Ricardo.
Sienna
Depth 3.8m 1.2x .52m
This steel sculpture is based on a character from the short story ?A Different Ocean ?by Grenadian Author Jacob Ross.
Sienna is a young athletic girl who has a special gift for free diving.
The story is a tale of friendship and betrayal as Sienna?s talents are exploited in the search for lost treasures.
The metal framework is designed to allow currents to pass through the body whilst providing a stable structure for filter feeding organisms to colonize.
As this natural process accelerates, Sienna will gain substance and complexity.
Just as the reader of a book sees the story through his eyes and responds to the characters in unique ways, so this work can be viewed by the observer from different physical and emotional perspectives.
Arawak Head
Depth 5.2m 67cmx 34cm
Contact info :
- Website
- Email: info@underwatersculpture.com
- Tel UK: +44 (0)7762 829173
- Tel Grenada: +473 5342228
La Diablesse
Picture : Dive Grenada
Lost Correspondent
Picture : Dive Grenada
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