Five meters below the surface of the Tokunoshima sea, in southern Japan, rests a gigantic face destined to slowly change over time. It is called Ocean Gaia and it is the spectacular installation by the artist and environmentalist Jason deCaires Taylor, famous throughout the world for his underwater works transformed into living ecosystems.
The work, inaugurated on October 14, 2025, is the first underwater sculpture ever installed in Japan. It weighs over 45 tons, measures approximately 5.5 meters wide and was placed among the coastal reefs of the island of Tokunoshima, in the Amami archipelago. The face depicted is that of the model and actress Kiko Mizuhara, portrayed in a calm and suspended pose, almost asleep.
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A sculpture designed to become a marine habitat
However, Ocean Gaia was not designed only as an art installation. In fact, the structure contains openings and cavities created specifically to allow fish and marine organisms to enter and colonize the sculpture. Over time, the pH-neutral concrete and marine steel surface will encourage the formation of biofilms, corals and other life forms.
The sinuous lines of the work recall two elements deeply linked to the island. On one side there are the famous sand circles created by the Japanese puffer fish (Torquigener albomaculosus), a species known for the spectacular geometries it builds on the seabed during courtship. On the other, the profile of the Tokunoshima mountains, which according to local tradition resembles the silhouette of a lying pregnant woman.
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Tokunoshima, the island of longevity chosen for the project
The choice of Tokunoshima is not random. The island, inhabited by around 22 thousand people, is known in Japan for the high presence of centenarians, the strong connection with nature and a lifestyle considered among the healthiest in the country. In recent years, however, many young people have left the island to move to large Japanese cities. Precisely for this reason Ocean Gaia was also born as a cultural and environmental project: a work designed to bring new generations closer to the sea and local identity.
The symbolic meaning of Ocean Gaia
The name of the work recalls Gaia, the mythological figure associated with the primordial mother of the Earth. According to deCaires Taylor, the sea represents a gigantic maternal force capable of generating, protecting and regenerating life. The artist imagines Ocean Gaia as a silent meditation on the relationship between humans and the ocean. Not a static monument, but an organism destined to change together with the sea, slowly becoming an integral part of the ecosystem that surrounds it.
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