Artist behind 'disturbing' sculpture says it wasn't meant to cause a ruckus | UK news

The artist who created a sculpture that has been described as “disturbing” and “shocking” says he is “surprised” by the backlash but welcomes the difficult conversations it could potentially spark.

Jason deCaires Taylor told Sky News: “I don't seek to divide or upset people with my art. But I try to talk about issues that are relevant and relevant to our times.”

The 50-year-old artist says that although he has created political works in the past, this work contains “no political intentions at all” and is based on the painting that inspired him Shakespearetragic heroine Ophelia.

The Alluvia – which is made from recycled glass and steel and features LEDs that glow at night – was installed in the River Stour in Taylor's hometown of Canterbury in 1977. Kent about a week ago.

However, comments on Canterbury City Council's official Facebook page claimed, among other things, that the work was “insensitive” and “offensive”.

One wrote: “I can't be the only person who finds this deeply offensive. She looks like a drowned woman. How could the council not see the connection with women as victims of crime or the sad fact that so many drown as refugees off the Kent coast.”

Another said: “I find this sculpture absolutely appalling. It is not only offensive, it is downright disturbing. The depiction of a submerged figure reminiscent of a drowning victim is both morbid and completely insensitive given the tragic drowning accidents that occur on our coasts. What on earth was the city council thinking?”

Others spoke up for the work, with one commenting: “More people seem to be 'disturbed', 'offended' and 'shocked' by this than by images of actual drownings that occur daily on our shores. Instead of wasting your hatred on a work of art that is meant to provoke, why not put some of your energy into something constructive?”

Another wrote: “It's a beautiful piece of art and nowhere near as disturbing as the previous sculptures it replaced. What kind of world do we live in if anything that offends or 'triggers' someone has to be removed??”

The sculpture replaced two similar female forms, also created by Taylor, that had been in the water since 2008 but had been damaged by dredging.

“If it promotes care and compassion, that’s good”

Taylor told Sky News: “I was surprised… 99.9% of all the feedback I've received has been very positive… But at the same time, I appreciate that everyone takes something different away from everything they see.”

While he says there is “no connection” between the work and the ongoing refugee crisis further along the Kent coast, he hopes the work can inspire empathy for what is happening out in the Channel.

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He said: “It is an extremely tragic situation and I do not believe that ignoring it is the solution. If [this work] can encourage some kind of compassion and sympathy for this situation, then I think that's a good thing.”

More than 21,000 people arrived in Britain in small boats between January and September, according to government figures. At least 45 people died crossing the Channel this year.

Taylor also said that the fact that the subject is a young woman is due to the reference to the famous painting by Sir John Everett Millais on display at Tate Britain.

“Art without questions is pointless”

Some of Taylor's previous sculptures have addressed the climate crisis, Brexit and the plight of those risking their lives on the dangerous migration route from West Africa to Spain.

Taylor says: “Art should ask questions. It should make people think and evoke emotions, that's really crucial.”

“If you were to ignore things and try to please everyone with all of your art, I think you would create something very harmless and, frankly, quite pointless.”

He also believes that our age of information overload may be part of the cause of the negative feedback.

“We're so inundated with images and media, our phones are distracting us and there are screens everywhere we look, that people are looking for division and things that are clickbait. I think there's an element there where people are looking for controversy.”

Taylor said the majority of negative online comments came from people who had not been to Canterbury and seen the work in real life, and one call for the statue's removal had come from as far away as the Orkney Islands.

In direct response to the demand to remove his work from the river, he said: “People have every right to [an] opinion. But I would urge them to go and see it first.”

“A corpse does not glow at night”

Stewart Ross, chairman of the Canterbury Commemoration Society, the charity that commissioned the work, told Sky News: “Some people find it offensive and shocking, we have no objection to that. Any public art can be debated.”

He compared the calls for the work’s removal to the destruction of works of art during the Reformation and said: “I have a strong opinion on this [call for censorship]. This is what the Taliban are doing. If you don't like it, don't look.”

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Mr Ross said the “feigned anger” surrounding the sculpture was “unnecessary” and the charity was simply “trying to do the best it can”. He added: “People compare it to a corpse but I've never seen a corpse glow in the night.”

Taylor, who has been working as an artist for over 25 years, has sculptures in marine locations around the world, including Australia, Mexico, Grenada and Norway. Prices for his sculptures start at around £1,300.

He initially donated the two original Alluvia figures to the city of Canterbury in 2008.