British artist’s underwater museum has a deep meaning

Deep below the surface of the sea, British artist Jason deCaires Taylor has created Europe’s first underwater museum using human sculptures as a way to generate social awareness in favour of protecting the marine environment.

The underwater museum is submerged 12 meters under the ocean in the Las Coloradas bay in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. It aims to increase “marine biomass” by acting as a breeding site for local species in the area, according to the press release.

It took two years for Taylor to create the sculptures on display, which are taken from everyday life and each one tells a different story.

Some of the featured installations include “The Raft of Lampedusa,” a sculpted boat carrying refugees that represents the European humanitarian crisis, according to the press release.

A sculpted couple taking a selfie depicts our society’s use of technology and “self-obsession.” While the “hybrid sculptures” are a half human and half cactus shown living in harmony.

Taylor is well known for his underwater art installations having already created museums in The Bahamas, Cancun and The Antilles, where he uses his work to highlight “the defense of the oceans.”

In a Lanzarote council statement, Taylor said he wanted his work at the Atlantic Museum Lanzarote, to pay tribute “to those who succeed, but also to those whose hopes and dreams remain at the bottom of the sea.”