Classroom lesson ยท Underwater Sculpture Park ยท ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Grenada

Underwater Sculpture Park

The world's first underwater sculpture park, just below the waves

Photo ยท Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Just off the coast of Grenada, about five metres beneath the surface of the sea, there is an art gallery โ€” but instead of paintings on white walls, it is made of life-sized sculptures sitting on the sandy seabed. Created by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor, it is the world's first underwater sculpture park, and it opened in 2006.

Tell me more

The sculptures are made from a special kind of concrete that sea creatures love to live on. Over the years, corals, sponges and tiny sea animals have grown all over the figures, turning them into living reefs. What started as plain grey statues have slowly become colourful homes for fish, sea turtles and octopuses. The art and the ocean are now growing together.

The most famous sculpture is called 'Vicissitudes' โ€” a circle of 26 human figures holding hands on the seafloor. When you snorkel or scuba dive above them, looking down, they look like children in a ring game, their hands just reaching towards each other. Sunlight filters through the water and dances on the coral growing across their faces and shoulders.

The park was created for two reasons: it gives visitors an incredible underwater experience, and it takes some pressure off nearby natural coral reefs by giving divers and snorkellers a different place to explore. It is a clever idea โ€” using art to protect nature. Grenada is very proud to have the world's first park like this, and it has inspired similar projects in other countries.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01The underwater sculptures have slowly turned into living coral reefs. Can you think of other examples where something made by humans has become a home for wildlife?
  2. 02Would you prefer to see art in a museum or underwater? What would be the best and hardest thing about visiting an underwater gallery?
  3. 03The park was created partly to protect natural reefs. Can you think of other creative ways art or design might help protect the environment?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design your own underwater sculpture for Grenada's park. Think about what shape it should be, what material it could be made of so that sea animals can live on it, and what you would call it. Draw it twice โ€” once as it looks when first placed on the seabed, and once how it might look after ten years covered in coral and fish.