I do try doing land-based projects and
although that I find a very interesting
nothing has the same appeal as the
underwater world how the works change is
so profound and so dramatic and so
meaningful that and I think I can do
anything else on land at compare
all right people let's go dive in
this is a largest piece I've ever done
60 tonnes 18 feet high when we put the
base plate down and we started to get
the first piece in position
I just thought God how on earth are we
going to do this and have I made
enormous error
almost a year and a half ago I was
living in Cancun and a bohemian artist
Willacy Tynes actually emailed me and he
had this idea to create a sculpture park
for the charitable organization brief
the reason why this project is happening
is because when I was in school I won my
very first art competition with Bahamas
reef environmental foundation we had
vowed to use what I do as an artist
their conservation work and no effect
change it some sort of way but I ran
across Jason's work I'm like hey this is
fantastic why don't we have one of these
in the Bahamas a sculpture park
I trained as a sculptor in London quite
a few years back I used to make these
large-scale installations and put them
in different areas in public Town
Center's in forests in clips and I was
really really interested in how these
figurative works changed according to
their space and according to the
influences around them but I kind of
always felt that there was something
missing
through my diving experience realized a
little bit about artificial reefs and
how they were if I explored the
underwater realm with my art and if I
actually gave my art practical function
and something where it was actually
beneficial for the planet besides its
artistic value I thought that sounded
really interesting
the most inspiring moment seeing how the
corrals and how the sponges actually
applied the paint the finish the patina
as a sculptor they did all the hardest
work I just provided the base elements
and they did the actual finishing the
Caribbean that's set to lose 80% of its
coral reefs within the next 20 years
places like Bahamas which the coral reef
is one of the best assets I think it's
vital that the community rallies around
and tries to protect them this piece
this Atlas is all about the young
generation supporting our oceans and
stopping them from collapsing so it's
this young Bahamian girls supporting the
surface of the sea this is absolutely
fantastic if we could bring somebody
with Jason's caliber to do this and also
to have Bahamian artists involved the
piece that I designed is called virtuoso
man the piece is to pay homage to the
role that Atlas is playing also to
recognize the older generation that's
passing on this legacy it was a concept
that I've never done before and it was
using technology that was completely new
to me we were actually using a digital
process to scale up the sculpture and to
turn it into slices that we could all
cast separately and then actually
assemble them underwater actually
transferring this digital concept into
this tangible thing it was quite a step
surprisingly enough there was four of us
that actually built that 60 tonne
sculpture which you know when we were
doing it we were doing it layer by layer
in ink I mean I can't even describe how
difficult it was
Jason that was really worried because
you know he was like people are
expecting a lot of me at the same time I
think he was quietly confident that he
could do something on such a large scale
I think it's being nice one of the most
difficult projects I've ever done the
hardest part I'm always worried about is
the deployment where there's waves where
the hit is changing light changing
conditions it's so difficult
welcome to Judgment Day this is the
culmination of my years planning and
kind of four weeks and into work a bit
most stressful and most worrying about
the whole operation is we've got to get
these layers over that that pole I
looked at the crane driver and he's got
to line up this tiny little hole over
this column with this big concrete
weight it's definitely complicated but
it's also very very hazardous if any one
of those divers got a limb anywhere near
the slices it could have crushed them it
was definitely very worrying you know
you can't communicate in the same way
underwater no I'm on the surface and
although I can see the sort of general
outline of what's happening to tell
someone quickly it's very very hard so
we really needed a strict chain of
command and we all needed to be sort of
really really aware there's a huge
relief when the first piece locked into
place I realized that it actually could
be done
you
as we built it up the easier it got we
started off in sort of 18 feet and
slowly you know by the end of it was
actually standing on the sculpture even
though it was such a grueling task to
get it done right now we're saying it
was worth it and hopefully those that
come along to see these amazing pieces
would be seeing the same thing every one
that works so so hard on this I think it
pushed all of us to our limits of what
we could take so yeah I think was a huge
reward at the end I was just completely
blown away I don't normally get emotion
about that sort of thing but it's just
so beautiful there's just everything we
had hoped it would be it was just that
sort of wonderful meeting of what we try
to achieve and breathe people are gonna
see it and they're gonna be blown away
they're gonna be amazed they're gonna be
like wow this is what life is really
about we build these wonderful building
structures and then we also build art I
always have to sort of remind myself
that the piece is not ever finished
it's continuously changing and
continuously evolving it would be
interesting how it looks in 10 years 20
years time and seeing what changes occur
a lot of the man-made things are
interesting but the real sort of
inherent beauty the most spectacular
form and shape and texture is the actual
corals themselves