Stockholm: A mermaid made of recovered metal scraps with hair fashioned out of red plastic tubes was lowered into murky green waters outside Stockholm on a recent windy spring day.
Made to look like "The Little Mermaid" from Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale with a nod to Disney's 1989 adaptation, the sculpture is joined underwater by artworks inspired by famous landmarks from around the world, including the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer and the Statue of Liberty in New York.
These are all part of the "Atlantis" art project, which aims to "create an underwater city of the world's most famous buildings", project manager Fredrik Johansson told AFP.
All the sculptures are made from scrap recovered by his organisation Hands 2 Oceans, which picks up garbage dropped in the waters around Stockholm.
"In the six years we've been doing Hands 2 Ocean, we've picked up 43 tonnes of batteries. We have collected 44 tonnes of electric scooters, 180 tonnes of tyres, etc. So that's 400 tonnes in total that we've picked up," Johansson explained.
But the Atlantis project mainly seeks to bring attention to the threat posed by rising ocean levels.
"All forecasts today say that the water will rise. When the glaciers melt, the water will rise 1.2 metres in 80 years. Then the Seychelles will be gone, the Maldives are gone, Bangladesh is gone. We don't want to go that way," Johansson said.
"Atlantis symbolises for me where we are heading today," he added. "When all these cities are under water, then we have a new Atlantis," he said, referring to the submerged island from Greek mythology.
The artworks also include pieces inspired by London's Big Ben and New York's Empire State Building complete with King Kong climbing the top, and will be submerged for a year to get an underwater patina.
"Then we take them up to an auction where the money goes to continue this work," Johansson said.
One of the artists, Paul Svensson, made a replica of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
The artworks are visible on the project's website and for divers.
