Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief
Last Modified: 23:46 PM EDT, 18 July 2012
CANCUN, Mexico – Today, one of our readers emailed photos of an underwater installation by Jason deCaires Taylor. The sender stated that the installation was a tribute to the slaves who were thrown overboard to drown during the Middle Passage of the slave trade route.
The photos were intriguing and upon further research we discovered that the sculptor, Jason deCaires Taylor was the founding member of an underwater museum called MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte).
According to Taylor’s website, “the museum was formed in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc. The project founded by Jaime Gonzalez Cano of The National Marine Park, Roberto Diaz of The Cancun Nautical Association and Jason deCaires Taylor.
The installation consists of over 450 permanent life-size sculptures, made from specialized materials used to promote coral life, with the total installations occupying an area of over 420sq metres of barren seabed and weighing over 200 tons. The museum is one of the largest and most ambitious underwater artificial art attractions in the world.
Jason deCaires Taylor is an internationally acclaimed Eco-sculptor who creates underwater living sculptures, offering viewers mysterious, ephemeral encounters and fleeting glimmers of another world where art develops from the effects of nature on the efforts of man.
His site-specific, permanent installations are designed to act as artificial reefs, attracting corals, increasing marine biomass and aggregating fish species, while crucially diverting tourists away from fragile natural reefs and thus providing space for natural rejuvenation. Subject to the abstract metamorphosis of the underwater environment, his works symbolize a striking symbiosis between man and nature, balancing messages of hope and loss.” (Source: Jason deCaires Taylor Website)
The photos below were taken by tourists visiting the installations. To view his complete portfolio of hi-res professional photos of his sculptures please visit his website and enjoy.
Follow Nahmias Cipher Report Now on Twitter
Twitter: @nahmias_report
Editor: @ayannanahmias
Related articles
- Jason deCaires Taylor’s New Coral Winged Sculpture (mymodernmet.com)
- Cancun’s Underwater Wonder (dontholaatme.com)
- After 5 Years Underwater (aytacgok.wordpress.com)
![Rehtaeh Parsons, a teen from Nova Scotia, was a gorgeous, kind, straight-A student with her whole life ahead of her. On Thursday, she hung herself in her bathroom. On Sunday night, her family took her off life-support. Approximately a year and a half earlier, in November 2011, when Rehtaeh was 15 years old, she was reportedly gang-raped by four boys, classmates of hers. The trauma did not end there. One of the boys reportedly took a photo of the act and circulated it among Rehtaeh’s school and community where, as noted, by Rehtaeh’s mother, “it quickly went viral.” Authorities reportedly investigated the sexual assault but claimed there was insufficient evidence to make formal charges. Rehtaeh’s mother recalls the investigation: They didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later. To me, I’d think you’d get the boys right away, separate them…. Nothing was done about [the photos] because they couldn’t prove who had pressed the photo button on the phone. [She was told that the distribution of the photos is] not really a criminal issue, it’s more of a community issue. Even though she was 15 at the time, which is child pornography…. The whole case was full of things like that. We didn’t have a rape kit done because we didn’t even know (anything had happened) until several days later when she had a breakdown in my kitchen. She was trying to keep it to herself. Tormented and bullied, Rehtaeh was forced to leave her school and tried to start fresh in a new community. Despite efforts, she continued to struggle, at one point checking into a hospital to cope with suicidal thoughts, anger, and depression. In an extensive post on a Facebook memorial page, her mother Leah Parsons described how the straight-A high school student became depressed and suicidal after the incident. “The person Rehtaeh once was all changed one dreaded night in November 2011. She went with a friend to another’s home. In that home she was raped by four young boys . . . one of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community where it quickly went viral,” Leah Parsons wrote. “Because the boys already had a ‘slut’ story, the victim of the rape Rehtaeh was considered a slut. “This day changed the lives of our family forever.” Rehtaeh, who was a 15-year-old high school student in Cole Harbour at the time, was repeatedly bullied at school and “suddenly shunned by almost everyone she knew.” “She was never left alone. She had to leave the community. Her friends turned against her. People harassed her. Boys she didn’t know started texting her and Facebooking her asking her to have sex with them. It just never stopped,” her mother told CBC.](http://ayannanahmias.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rehtaeh-parsons-17-canadian-rape-victim-commits-suicide-3.jpg?w=45&h=45&crop=1){kind=small}
24/10/2012 at 13:52
man, how I’d like to see this someday!
very nice photos, and thanks loads for sharing! Love it !
23/07/2012 at 19:13
Beautiful post and pictures. I came here from Under the Sea | Shiteki Na Usagi