Museum of Underwater Art’s Coral Greenhouse, John Brewer Reef, Australia. 20 reef guardians propagate coral for reef conservation.
Artist: Jason deCaires Taylor. Photos by Jason deCaires Taylor (2019) and Adam Smith (2021).
Artist: Jason deCaires Taylor. Photos by Jason deCaires Taylor (2019) and Adam Smith (2021).
Jason DeCaires Taylor
Artist Bio
Jason deCaires Taylor is an award winning sculptor, environmentalist and professional underwater photographer. For almost two decades, Taylor has been creating underwater museums and sculpture parks beneath the waves, submerging over 1,100 living artworks throughout the world’s oceans and seas. Themes explored by these artistic installations include, among others, the climate emergency, environmental activism, and the regenerative attributes of nature. The sculptures create a habitat for marine life whilst illustrating humanity’s fragility and its relationship with the marine world. Taylor’s subjects mainly feature members of the local community, focussing on their connections with their own coastal environments.
“Museums are places of conservation, education, and about protecting something sacred. We need to assign those same values to our oceans.”
Jason deCaires Taylor
“Museums are places of conservation, education, and about protecting something sacred. We need to assign those same values to our oceans.”
Jason deCaires Taylor
The Coral Greenhouse
Coral gardening is an active reef restoration technique used to assist the recovery of coral reefs that have been degraded, damaged or destroyed. The process of coral gardening mirrors the discipline of silviculture in terrestrial environments. On land, gardeners take cuttings or seeds from mature plants, raise seedlings in a nursery before planting young trees in the desired location. On coral reefs, marine scientists take ‘cuttings’ of mature coral colonies, place them on a nursery for a husbandry period before replanting them in a new location. Researchers from Reef Ecologic are working with the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) to create a special blend of art and science at Jason deCaires Taylor’s Coral Greenhouse on John Brewer Reef. The Coral Greenhouse symbolises a land based greenhouse enabling the planting of coral to enhance the aesthetic appeal and biodiversity of this artistic installation. Researchers collect fragments from coral colonies on the surrounding nearby reefs and transplant them into the art installation. The science team collect data on survival, growth and natural recruitment as well as aesthetics and visitor enjoyments to measure the social and ecological effect of the sculptures. Researchers mimic depth and aspect to ensure the target locations are similar to the areas that the original corals are sourced from. The confluence of art and science provides information to researchers on potential reef restoration techniques that may be implemented in other reef locations not only on the Great Barrier Reef but around the world. These collaborative installations help communicate complicated messages regarding reef health and enable people to see these techniques and ask questions leading to discussions around why we may need these types of interventions at all. As our natural ecosystems face ever greater challenges these creative approaches to raise awareness are critical to help inspire people to implement the changes need to support the health of our planet.
Sponsoring Partnering Organisations: Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA)
Collaborating Partners: Reef Ecologic
Sponsoring Partnering Organisations: Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA)
Collaborating Partners: Reef Ecologic