Shropshire Supports The Solomon Siren

Aim

Install a seabed Siren sculpture rising from the Pacific reef mourning the loss of an ancestral island to create new life and hope

Shropshire Climate Action is raising funds for a sculpture very few of us in Shropshire will see - a sculpture some 9000 miles away in the Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Siren © Jason deCaires Taylor

Surprisingly the Solomon Siren will be standing in deep tidal waters and if sea levels continue to rise the waters will cover her over. You can see in the photograph above that the Siren will be - this year – waist deep in water. The Solomon Siren tells the story of passionate climate activist, Gladys Bartlett (née Habu), whose ancestral land on Kale Island has gradually disappeared beneath the sea.

The Siren will be located on the bed of Kale Island, now underwater. 

Ade Adepitan travelled to the Solomon Islands to witness the dramatic effect rising sea levels are having on local communities. Ade talks to Gladys Habu and visits Kale Island, one of the first islands in the world to disappear beneath the waves because of climate change. And as the sea level continues to rise, Gladys’ village is now under threat. Note that the video opens in a new page.

This 60 MInutes programme gives an excellent introduction to how the loss of the islands was identified; interviewed on board ship and on shore Dr Simon Albert, the scientist who first revealed why some islands were simply disappearing, makes it all clear.

The Siren will be partially submerged but stand above the water for all to see. Her presence bears witness to the changes imposed on the Solomons by the climate crisis, part of its history and environment are disappearing.

The Siren will provide a new marine habitat and also be a way of visualising the changes that are taking place bit by bit and this can help locals and visitors see the impact of what is happening.

The Solomon Siren can help the sadness of loss become something hopeful as new life gathers around her form, and planning for the future may begin.

2009 now you see Kale Island 

2020 now you don’t, she’s gone

The ancient forest (above left) on Kale Island, in North West Isabel Province has submerged leaving only a stump (right).

Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. This video explains: What is Climate Change.

The Solomon Islands are facing sea level rise at three times the global average. Entire communities are being regularly flooded, forcing people to adapt how they live and where they live.

Houses have to be built on higher stilts with walkways between buildings, there is much less room for crops to be grown.

Rising from the Solomon Islands, a new sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor continues the artist’s ongoing Siren Series, works that give form to environmental warnings that are often unseen or ignored.

How can a sculpture help and what is it like?

The 4 metres tall sculpture is being made by Kent artist Jason deCaires Taylor, the tree out of stainless steel, the figure and the sculpture’s base constructed with carbon-captured materials and biochar, textured to encourage colonisation by marine life.

Durable both above and under the sea, over time, algae, corals and invertebrates will claim its surfaces, transforming the memorial into a living reef.

The practical details of the Siren’s construction combine with the artist’s imagination to create something beautiful, where we can recognise our humanity on our shared planet. Jason’s work is arresting, beautiful and timely, climate action that is original and compelling, hopeful and sort of fierce too.

It is not only the human species whose lives are disrupted but a myriad of species in and around the sea. Habitats are changing and often lost, for example seawater damage to the mangroves fringing the islands which impacts all marine life.

The sculpture installation will encourage back the octopuses, stingrays and squid as they begin to colonise the new habitat created by the sculpture’s base. The sculpture is designed to be a perch and fishing post for frigate birds who need to dry their wings, just like a giant cormorant.

   © Frederique Olivier / naturepl.com

Shropshire meets the Solomon Islands

Shropshire and the Solomon Islands are separated by 9000 miles. Chilly northern Europe versus Equatorial Oceania. In May 2021 there was a meeting of minds over climate change, when, thanks to Zoom, Gladys Bartlett from the Solomons spoke at the South Shropshire Climate Action Next Steps conference.

Here, we suffer droughts, storms and floods while 9000 miles away islands are actually disappearing as sea levels rise. The question was blindingly obvious; “what could we do to help?” We needed a practical project, so we supported a semi-submerged sculpture that will disappear totally if seas continue to swell.

The Solomon Siren sculpture, four metres tall, in Jason’s studio earlier in 2026

© Jason deCaires Taylor

This is less King Canute more Solomon Siren – calling out to the world that devastating change is just over the horizon, the Siren’s warning.

Shropshire is already suffering from too much water in the shape of more frequent and heavier rain. Nationally we had 8% more rainfall than average last winter – and we saw plenty of it in Shropshire whether as run-off or floods, but by mid-May this year river levels are low and streams are disappearing. 

Everyone must adapt. Those living in regularly flooded towns know the costs – financial and emotional. 

We are in a position to help other communities and supporting the Solomon Siren is a major opportunity to express solidarity with a geographically distant friend and neighbour showing compassion and respect for another culture.

The sculpture has been funded by the British High Commission in Honiara.

We still need to raise £10,000 to make sure the Siren lands on her seabed.

Please help Shropshire Climate Action reach this target.

About the Artist 

Jason deCaires Taylor (b1974) is an award-winning sculptor, environmentalist, professional underwater photographer and is widely regarded as the founder of the underwater museum movement. He has spent the past two decades establishing sculpture parks and museums beneath the waves, submerging more than 1,200 living artworks across the world’s oceans and seas.

You can see some of this work at Jason deCaires Taylor and The Underwater Museum.

Taylor’s installations address urgent contemporary themes, including the climate emergency, environmental activism and the regenerative capacity of nature. Functioning simultaneously as artworks and artificial reefs, the sculptures provide habitat for marine life while reflecting on human fragility and our evolving relationship with the marine environment.

Subjects used for figurative works mainly feature members of the local community, focussing on their connections with their own coastal landscapes and reinforcing the social dimension of Taylor’s practice. You will see the figure of the Solomon Siren represents Gladys, someone who has personally experienced the loss of Kale Island. For more information https://www.youtube.com/@jasondecairestaylorstudio

Biochar and Pyrolysis 

Once under the waves the base is designed to be attractive to octopus and squid as they hunt prey and hide from the shark that eat them. The base is made of pH neutral concrete combined with Biochar.  This is made by burning hedge trimmings at a very high heat (pyrolysis (high heat) - read about this exciting material which is being used in soil enhancement in agriculture and horticulture, a carbon-negative additive to materials like asphalt and concrete.

About Gladys Bartlett

The Siren is modelled on Gladys, highlighting her bond with the environment. The Solomon Siren tells the story of passionate climate activist, Gladys Bartlett, whose ancestral land on Kale Island has gradually disappeared beneath the sea.

Over the past two decades, rising ocean levels have inundated the island, forcing her grandparents' family to eventually keep to the mainland. What was once about 50,000 square meters of land, a place to stay, garden, fish, bird watch, and enjoy part of their cultural heritage, now lies underwater.

You have probably guessed by now that we think Gladys is exceptional. Still in her early 30s, a young mother, a UNICEF Pacific Supporter, pharmacist, currently UNICEF Pacific Amabassador – oh, and a beauty queen!

Named by Downing Street as a UK Point of Light recognising her outstanding contribution to making a change in their community, Gladys was part of the Pacific Islands Leaders meeting with COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma. 

Gladys won a Chevening scholarship to come to the UK to study for a Masters in Clinical Pharmacology. While she was here she visited Shropshire!

Gladys exploring Stokesey Castle

Local parrot attracted to Gladys on Whitcliffe Common, Ludlow

Kale Island in 2009 still supporting ancient forest

A young Gladys on Kale Island in 2009

Kale Island in December 2014

Kale Island in December 2020

Gladys giving a COP speech from Kale Island in 2021

So much to say about one so young – read some of her stories here:

Gladys recalling the moment her grandparent’s home – Kale Island in the Solomon Islands disappeared.

Gladys Habu calls on the global community to recognise these losses, and act.

An interview with Gladys, exploring how climate change is affecting the security and well-being of people and communities in the Pacific.

At fourteen, Solomon Islander Gladys Habu was gifted a camera for acing her exams. She used it to document the disappearance of her grandparents' customary island, Kale, and unknowingly ignited a passion for climate activism.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 30th June 2026 at 4:52pm