Artist defends ‘tone deaf’ underwater statue
A statue depicting Shakespeare’s tragic heroine Ophelia has been slammed as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘insensitive’.
Jason deCaires Taylor, 50, created the sculpture – which is made of recycled glass, steel and LED lights – and installed it in the River Stour in Canterbury.
Dubbed ‘The Alluvia’, the white sculpture shows a woman lying with her eyes shut, with various flowers adorning her chest.
Taylor told Sky: ‘I don’t strive of my artwork to divide people or cause upset. But I do try to talk about issues that are pertinent and relevant to our current times.’
After the sculpture was shared on Canterbury City Council’s Facebook page, it sparked furor, with some claiming the sculpture looks like a drowned woman.
One wrote: ‘How did the council not see the link to women as victims of crime or the sad fact so many drown off the Kent coast as refugees?’
Taylor said there is no connection between his statue and the tragic drownings off the coast of Kent – but welcomed the outpouring of empathy for what’s happened in the channel.
He added: ‘I was surprised… 99.9% of all the feedback that I’ve received has been very positive… But at the same time, I appreciate everybody takes something different from everything they see.
‘It’s an extremely tragic situation, and I don’t think ignoring it is the solution. If [this work] can foster any kind of care and sympathy for that situation, then I think that’s a good thing.’
Previously, Taylor’s work has drawn attention to political issues including Brexit and migration – but he said this sculpture was not intended to be political.
The woman in the sculpture was intended to represent Ophelia, as seen in Sir John Everett Millais’s famous painting, ‘Ophelia’.
The Chair of Canterbury Commemoration Society Stewart Ross said: ‘Some people find it offensive and shocking, we have no objection to that. All public art is open to discussion.’
Speaking about calls for the work to be removed, he compared it to the destruction of art during the Reformation, adding: ‘I feel strongly about this [call for censorship]. It’s what the Taliban do. If you don’t like it, don’t look.’
‘People have been comparing it to a dead body, but I have yet to meet a dead body that lights up in the night.’
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