An 18-foot- tall underwater statue weighing 60-tonnes is a wondrous creation all on its own. But Jason deCaires Taylor had bigger plans for this sculpture than its already giant size.
He titles his latest sculpture, Ocean Atlas, and it includes this massive girl beneath the ocean waters off the coast of Nassau in the Bahamas. On her shoulders she carries the weight of the ocean. The statue gets her name from the Greek god Atlas; he is the one with the weight of the heavens atop his shoulders.
All of Taylor’s underwater statues are made from pH-neutral cement, which allows coral reef communities to thrive on the statue. Over time his work collects some awesome reef life. He became interested in adding statues beneath the sea after learning about the declining coral reef population.
In the past Taylor has used damaged corals, either by humans or storms, to add colour and texture to his work. These pieces are then returned right back to the sea to serve as a coral community once again.
Taylor’s vast knowledge of coral reef helps him fashion his sculptures in order to attract certain sea creatures to certain parts of each design, adding textures and colours to just the right places as the coral reef forms and fills out.
The female statue seems to be struggling beneath the weight of the waves, although she remains poised and beautiful at the same time just as we all must do in our everyday life, even when things feel too heavy to handle.The material used to craft all of his underwater creations is comparable to the cement used to build Roman Bridges, which remain some of the oldest remaining architecture. His statues had to be made to withstand the test of time because coral reefs take hundreds of years to develop.