As if the allure of a 200-metre swimming pool, 120 luxurious villas and some of the best diving in the Maldives wasn’t enough to tempt you, there’s now another reason to visit Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi.
Floating on the waters of the Shaviyani Atoll 100-metres from the beach, The Sculpture Coralarium is a semi-submerged aquatic art gallery created by underwater sculpture artist Jason deCaires Taylor, which challenges perceptions of how art should be experienced.
The Sculpture Coralarium is a six-metre tall stainless steel cube, on top of which six human-shaped figures look out at the ocean. Inside, 14 humanoid concrete characters standing on plinths are semi-submerged, emerging from and retreating into the waves according to the level of the tide. A third set of child-like sculptures look up from the sea floor, creating three distinct layers to this unique underwater gallery.
Part art gallery, part conservation project, The Sculpture Coralarium was created to provide a new and safe environment for coral and marine life to propagate, as well as drawing attention to the beauty and fragility of the underwater kingdom, and how its erosion affects human life.
“The Coralarium is a place of preservation, conservation and education,” says deCaires Taylor. “Together with the resort we hope to raise awareness for the protection of Maldivian coral reefs. I want to see a better future for the ocean, for people to see it as a delicate place, worthy of our protection.”
The artist, whose Underwater Art Museum was unveiled in Cancun in 2012, has since created underwater galleries in the waters of the Gili Islands in Indonesia, the Bahamas and Grenada in the Caribbean, and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, where a haunting army of human figures march across the seabed.
