His art is absolutely in tune with the times. A World Adrift Museum by Jason De Caires Taylor

ENVIRONMENT

His art touches on the most important issues of our time in a unique way

A World Adrift Museum by Jason De Caires Taylor visualises the vulnerability of the Small Island Developing States to rising sea levels, coastal erosion and the threat of extreme weather events

November 2024

A World Adrift by Jason De Caires Taylor

Courtesy of the artist

Art, November 2024: His art touches on the most important issues of our time in a unique way. Nowhere is the warming of the oceans more clearly visible than in De Caires Taylor's artworks, but also the pollution of the seas by plastic. The figures and scenes by English sculptor Jason De Caires Taylor are located beneath the surface of the sea and are only accessible to divers. His new underwater museum A World Adrift is embedded in the northern waters of Grenada, the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

De Faires Taylor has already created underwater museums in several countries. His latest underwater museum, A World Adrift, commissioned by the Grenada Tourism Authority, aims to highlight the vulnerability of the Small Island Developing States, SIDS, to rising sea levels, coastal erosion and the threat of extreme weather events. Tragically, the installation became a living testament to these issues when Hurricane Beryl, a Category 5 storm, hit the islands with its destructive force.

Symbolising the uncertain future

A World Adrift shows a fleet of 30 boat sculptures, each steered by a schoolchild from the region and symbolising the uncertain future. According to the artist, these young figures are intended to embody resilience, hope and defiance. De Caire Taylor's sculptures are made of stainless steel and green cement. The boats are designed to resemble origami ships, reflecting the fragility of island ecosystems. With a depth of 4 metres, it is accessible to snorkellers and divers and is just a short boat ride from the coast of Hillsborough in Carriacou.

Diving instructor, sculptorer, artist

The artist, who creates unique works of art worldwide, has the ideal CV for this. He spent his childhood in Malaysia, where he learnt to scuba dive. He later trained as a diving instructor before graduating from the University of the Arts London with a Bachelor of Arts Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. This led him to the world-famous Canterbury Cathedral, where he learnt traditional stone sculpture. In 2006, he sank his first concrete sculptures in the Caribbean Sea to create artificial reefs.

‘The Raft of the Medusa’

Recently, the artist came under international media fire for his artwork Alluvia in the River Stour in Kent. The statue, although larger than life, would look like a drowned person and offend people's sensibilities. Associations were even made with drowned migrants. However, it was precisely in memory of the victims in the Mediterranean that de Caires Taylor conceived a sculpture.

This world-famous memorial work is located in the Museo Atlántico in Lanzarote, financed by the government, and includes several installations of refugee sculptures. One of the installations - ‘The Raft of Lampedusa’ is intended to evoke ‘The Raft of the Medusa’, a painting by Théodore Géricault. ‘By drawing parallels between the abandonment of the sailors in his shipwreck scene and the current refugee crisis, the work is not intended as a tribute or memorial to the many lives lost, but as a stark reminder of the collective responsibility of our global community today,’ wrote deCaires Taylor in a Facebook post about his installation.

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A World Adrift by Jason De Caires Taylor

Courtesy of the artist

A World Adrift by Jason De Caires Taylor

Courtesy of the artist

Portrait Jason De Caires Taylor

Courtesy of the artist

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