MEXICO: TIDES OF CHANGE

VISITING AN UNDERWATER SCULPTURE PARK OFF THE COAST OF CANCÚN SHEDS LIGHT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND THE OCEAN, AS FISH AND CORALS MAKE A HOME AMONG POIGNANT ARTWORKS. WORDS: LIV HELEN VÅGE

I floated above the car. There was a child curled up on the bonnet of the VW Beetle, hugging the windshield. There was a defeated expression on his face as he clung onto the car, seemingly knowing it would do no good. A silvery fish suddenly rushed out of the rusty car door. I was reminded I was in one of the only museums in the world where the visitors are almost exclusively fish.

The Museo Subacuático de Arte is an underwater sculpture park situated outside Cancún in Mexico, with sites accessible either by snorkelling or scuba diving. Before visiting, I expected an Atlantis or a Pompeii; a place dead and preserved. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The sculptures were bursting at the seams with life, sprouting colourful corals and dancing dramatically with algae and seaweed. The art is designed to create an artificial coral reef, drawing divers away from natural reefs that have become damaged by the flow of visitors.

I let one of the inhabitants of the park show me around, and followed a nimble, striped fish to a massive bust of a man that looked like he was in pain. It could seem like his suffering came from the juvenile corals bursting out of his temples, aged by the brown plants covering his face.

Nature was in charge here, leaving him in a continuous, silent struggle. Many of the 500 works in the park depict this match between humans and nature. But there’s also a deep symbiosis between the two. This is best reflected in the sculptures that have been modelled on men and women from the nearby fishing village of Puerto Morelos. Their statues stand tall in defence of their oceans, speaking out for a relationship between humans and nature that isn’t painful, but sustainable.

The tide pulled me back and forth, my body oscillating over the art. With every push and pull, I could feel the raw power of the water. It seems strange that one can overuse and pollute something that possesses such strength and serenity. The image of the child on the car came to my mind, posing a poignant question about the world we’re leaving for the next generation. As I pondered, I let the warm waters swaddle me, my own exhalations composing a soft lullaby. Another fish scurried by, breaking me out of my reverie. At least for now, I take deep comfort in knowing that there are places hidden under the surface where nature is in charge, and humans are still the visitors.