Underwater Oz comes to Cancun
By Bob Schulman
Try to picture Dorothy, Toto and the Scarecrow prancing around an underwater museum off the coast of eastern Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Got it? This will give you an idea of the Oz-like thrills in store for divers and snorkelers as they wind their way around 400 surrealistic sculptures on the ocean floor between Cancun and the island of Isla Mujeres.
One, called “Man on Fire,” is covered with flame-like jets of coral in a sort of modern-day version of the brainless Scarecrow, updated to illustrate a man burning in ignorance of his destruction of the environment.
Although there's no yellow brick road down there, the concrete, life-size figures are being anchored along subterranean pathways to be completed by the end of the year. Among sculptures already in place is “Gardener of Hope,” a young girl in a garden patio cultivating potted plants – symbolizing “a new, revitalized kinship with the environment.”
Another, tagged “Dream Collector,” features a man collating catchy messages found in bottles from around the world. One message reads: “May our hearts never become as hard as our heads.”
The project's artistic director is the famous sculptor and artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Dozens of major magazines have featured the Yucatan project along with Taylor's earlier works in the Caribbean, England and Greece.
More info: www.underwatersculpture.com. Also, visit the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.cancun.travel.