Grenada: Underwater sculptures in tribute to African slaves
Grenada: Underwater sculptures in tribute to African slaves
Known as “the spice of the Caribbean”, the island of Granada pays tribute to the slaves who died during the crossing. Indeed, slavery is a dark story for the black people and humanity. These sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor, an Anglo-Guyanese sculptor, testify to the sad fate of his many African slaves thrown into the sea by slave ships during the transatlantic slave trade. If the sea could speak, it would tell us the sorrow and despair of its two million Africans who had died drowned during an inhuman crossing.
Where are the underwater sculptures?
For those who are lucky enough to go to Granada Island, you can see these breathtaking sculptures from the Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park in the heart of Molinere Bay. This park is the world’s first underwater museum. The work “Vicissitudes” is a place outside the time when the sculptures represent African slaves forcibly transported to America and thrown overboard by slave ships.
More precisely, there are 26 statues of young women and men standing by the hand in a circle facing the seabed. These statues weigh about 15 tons and are immersed by 4 meters of bottom. Over time, the vegetation grows on the sculptures. This creates a strange harmony between the work of men and nature. This water park is a wonderful place where time has stopped, but where the beauty of an exceptional art, the grief of an entire people in a moving aquatic environment mixes. There are also TamCC sculptures of 18 faces submerged 2 meters under water.
The British-Guianese sculptures Jason deCaires Taylor were made in 2006 in shallow waters accessible to snorkelers. These sculptures are classified as one of the 25 Wonders in the World by National Geographic.
Who is Jason deCaires Taylor?
Jason deCaires Taylor was born in 1974 to a Guyanese mother and an English father. During his childhood, he traveled extensively between Europe and Asia with his parents and spent his time studying the coral reefs of Malaysia.
A graduate of London Art University, he traveled the oceans and made magnificent photographs of the underwater fauna. Thanks to his exceptional work, he became famous for his photographs of the oceans and his underwater sculptures. We talk about him in many newspapers and media like CNN, BBC, Usa Today, The Guardian, Vogue, Discovery Channel, and so on.
Today, he lives in Cancun, Mexico and he manages the Subaquatic Museum of Art (MUSA) as Artistic Director. He has produced more than 400 underwater sculptures in Mexico. Do not hesitate to go and discover all his work on his website www.underwatersculpture.com
  
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What do you think about these sculptures ?
