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Japan’s First Underwater Sculpture Is a Serene Meditation on Rebirth and Renewal

By Jessica Stewart on October 27, 2025

For the first time, artist Jason deCaires Taylor has brought his underwater sculpture to Japan. Ocean Gaia sits nearly 16.5 feet under the sea off the island of Tokunoshima as a symbol of renewal and the link between humans and the sea. As the first underwater sculpture in Japan, it serves not only as a work of art but also as a catalyst for ecosystem rebirth.

With Ocean Gaia, deCaires Taylor imagines the maternal force of the ocean through the guise of the well-known Japanese model Kiko Mizuhara. Resting on a surface that appears to be sand moved by the ocean tides, she cradles her pregnant belly. Though the sculpture weighs over 45 tons, the artist has managed to instill the piece with serenity and lightness.

The perforated edges of the sculpture provide new habitats for marine life, allowing the artwork to become an integral part of the reef. The concept of rebirth and the cyclical nature is important due to the very nature of the sculpture’s location. Tokunoshima is known for both its high birth rate and incredible number of centenarians. As of late, the area’s youth have left the island in favor of city life, but this sculpture acts as a symbolic call to younger generations, beckoning them back.

In using the piece as a gateway for culture, deCaires Taylor hopes to spark the interest of the younger generation. “Drawing from the myth of Gaia, the primordial mother, the work reflects on the ocean as origin and consciousness, the source from which all life emerged,” says the artist in a statement. “It speaks to interconnection and reverence, a reminder that the ocean is not apart from us, but an entity on which we are entirely dependent.”