by Curlan Campbell
- Sculptures open to public until October 2023
- Coral Carnival depicts traditional masquerades and folklore characters
- deCaires Taylor gave Grenada world’s first underwater gallery in 2006
Grenada’s newest edition to the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park is a fine example of the intersection between visual arts, culture and environmental sustainability. On Wednesday, 31 sculptures were unveiled to the public at PricklyBay Marina.
In October 2020, a proposal was submitted for World Bank funding to cover the design and construction of new and replacement structures, removal of damaged sculptures and installation and replacement of the new sculptures. There are 31 sculptures in total: 25 new works and 2 replacement sculptures, “The Lost Correspondent” and “The Unstill Life,” by British sculptor, artist and conservationist Jason deCaires Taylor, plus 4 sculptures created by local artist Troy Lewis.
Commissioned by the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA), “The Coral Carnival” collection captures the essence of Spicemas with depictions of Grenada’s traditional masquerades: the Jab Jab, Vieux Corps, Wild Indian, Shortknee and fancy mas, Bélé Dancer and folklore characters such as La Diablesse and Mama Glo. Visual artists Troy Lewis, Richie Modeste, Jemilla Francis and Teddy Frederick helped bring them to life using specialised colour pigments.
In 2006, deCaires Taylor gave Grenada the world’s first underwater gallery that captured international attention and was featured in top international newspapers, magazines and television shows. His sculptures become artificial reefs for marine life and draw tourists away from fragile coral reefs. He has created other spectacular sculptures worldwide, including the southeastern coast of Cyprus, which boasts the world’s first Museum of Underwater Sculptures depicting man’s relationship to nature. Scaled-up versions of his work bring attention to climate change issues in Mexico, the Maldives, Australia and the Canary Islands, among others. His work can also be seen much Closer to home on the shallow coast of The Bahamas, where his 60-ton concrete sculpture “Ocean Atlas” rests.
Through a video presentation, deCaires Taylor gave a time-lapse of the live casting and moulding process, detailing the immense work involved in the sculpture creation at his studio in Kent, England. He expressed his fascination for observing how nature takes over the sculptures, adding a new artistic dimension, and, through the evolution of his work, attention to political and environmental issues of climate change.
Speaking directly to one of his artistic creations installed at Davies Reef on the Great Barrier Reef, “Ocean Siren” changes colour based on the daily variations in water temperature to warm and cool the reef, bringing attention to the issue of global warming and sea temperature rise. “We’ve had, you know, extremely hot weather, especially in the Caribbean over the over the last few months. And hot weather means stress on the reef. This has a series of temperature sensors that are on the reef, and as the water temperature changes, it tells people in town, in urban environments, what’s going on,” deCaires Taylor said.
Ribbon cutting for sculptures unveiling at Prickly Bay Marina. Photo: Curlan Campbell
Key officials, including Prime Minister Hon. Dickon Mitchell, witnessed the unveiling held at Prickly Bay, followed by a guided tour. Minister with responsibility for Economic Development, Planning, Tourism, ICT and Creative Economy Hon. Lennox Andrews spoke highly of the new additions to Grenada’s underwater sculpture park. “For our tourism industry to grow and to expand, it means that we must not only preserve and protect what we have, but we must always come up with new ideas to enhance and to develop and to upgrade what we have, so that when the tourists come, what they get is a new experience something different, something creative, something for the very first time and something that simultaneously would give that wow effect and cause them to leave our homeland with fond memories of our country, and therefore people. I think this project simply does that. But more importantly, this project pulls together the culture, the nature, and the idiosyncrasies of our people, all of which are defined and combined in these sculptures. So that when you come, I want you to see you get a full understanding of what is a Grenadian.”
Chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority Randall Dolland thanked all of the players involved in making this project a reality. He stated that this has certainly brought a new dimension to Grenada’s tourism product offering that is guaranteed to invoke curiosity. “From Europe all the way to the West Coast of the United States, even further, they’re going to be asking the questions: What are these images? Why are they here? What do they represent? They have no choice now but to start engaging, talking about our culture, talking about carnival, and also embracing the folklore characters as they are. We’ve always heard so much about Greek mythology and other mythologies from around the world, but it’s time that, as a young civilisation, we start embracing our own, learning more about our own, and taking it to another level.”
The sculptures will be displayed at Prickly Bay Marina and open to the general public until October 2023, after which they will be relocated to the Molinere site.
Looks like one figure is holding a large Ganja leaf.