Eyes closed, her face tilts skyward as sunlight flickers over her stone skin. She stands just below the surface of the water in an idyllic white sand bay. Tiny fish dart around her shoulders while plants sway lazily around her feet. I swim past her and head into the shade of a vast metal cube, which casts streaks of shadow across the placid ocean. In here, an array of abstract human figures stand stoically observing their surroundings, concrete corals bursting out of their heads, chests, arms and legs. Up above, stone figures look down at me from atop the cube.

I return to shore. Jason deCaires Taylor’s ‘Coralarium’ is still visible from the beach of the Fairmont Sirru Fen Fushi Hotel in the Maldives’ Shaviyani Atoll. I sit with him and we sip coffee, watching waves scramble up the sand. “We’re all connected to the sea in some way, so for me it feels like a very sacred experience going into the underwater world,” he says. “I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable about just making works, having exhibitions and then storing or selling them, it didn’t really sit well with me. Then I realised that I could make art that had a secondary purpose, that was functional and could also tell stories and at the end of the day, whether you like the art or not, it actually served a practical purpose. I felt much happier about that, I felt it was a more valid contribution.”