Jason de Caires

A 1998 Camberwell College of Arts graduate, de Caires has created the world's first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies. Through these underwater sculptures he utilizes the environment to sustain his art, and his art to sustain the environment. He hopes that his work will draw attention to environmental issues, including but not limited to the coral reefs he assists with his sculptures.

There are many unique elements about his work due to its placement under water. First, because the sculptures attract the growth of reefs and marine life, the art changes every day. Also, the entire experience of the art is changed by having the perspective of being underwater; the way people interact with art in an ocean environment is obviously different from experiencing art on land.

The image above is of his work, Vicissitudes. The sculptures are of ethnically diverse children all holding hands and staying upright even again strong currents. The interconnected change that occurs on the sculptures because of the environment and on the environment because of the sculptures mimics the process of growing up. According to www.underwatersculpture.com, "the sculpture proposes growth, chance, and natural transformation. It shows how time and environment impact on and shape the physical body".