400 Cement Sculptures Submerged Underwater by Jason de Caires Taylor

British sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor is about to give the curious traveler a unique reason to visit Mexico. He’s created 400 cement sculptures for a new underwater museum in the National Marine Park of Cancun. In November, the installation, called The Silent Evolution, will open to the public and will be the world’s largest museum of its kind.

It’s called ‘art with a purpose’ because the sculptures will serve as an artificial reef. By constructing them from special cement, Taylor is helping to promote marine life and create areas for corals to flourish and marine creatures to breed. The sculptures will also help with the conservation of the natural corals by easing pressure on nearby natural reefs which receive half a million tourists flocking to those areas every year.

Interestingly, Taylor purposely decided to not create Maya-themed figures for the underwater museum. Instead, he wanted to show everyday people in everyday scenarios. “A lot of this is just celebrating normal people doing normal things,” he says. “By taking everyday scenes and putting them underwater, you give them a completely new context, a whole life of their own.”

The coolest part is that the sculptures’ appearances will constantly change over time. “I have a whole team of underwater helpers that come along and do all the finishing for me,” Taylor says. “The coral applies the paint. The fish supply the atmosphere. The water provides the mood. People ask me when it’s going to be finished. This is just the beginning.”