A former graffiti artist and Canterbury art college reject is earning worldwide acclaim for his striking underwater sculptures.

Jason deCaires Taylor’s latest masterpiece sees four ghostly horsemen rising from the waters of London’s River Thames within sight of the Houses of Parliament.

His sculptures at marine sites across the globe have been ranked among the Top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic magazine.

But just over two decades ago the former Chaucer Technology School pupil found himself turned down by the city’s Kent Institute of Art and Design.

Having grown up in Canterbury, he had channelled his creative energy into spray-can graffiti art on walls around the city centre.

Taylor told the Gazette: “You go through phases as a teenager, mine was definitely graffiti.

“I remember a good spot was on these disused railway buildings opposite Canterbury West station. It’s all luxury apartments now.

“I also won permission from the council to create a mural on a wall off the Sturry Road. I think we were among the first in the city to do something like that.

“That’s gone now too.

“I didn’t dream of becoming an artist as such, but I enjoyed what I was doing.”

Taylor pays tribute to his art teacher at the now defunct Chaucer school, whose encouragement persuaded him to pursue his creative endeavours at higher education level.

“I wanted to do a foundation course at KIAD. I got rejected, which didn’t feel great,” he says. “But I pressed on and won a place at the London Institute of Arts.

“That’s where things took off for me. I started doing three dimensional land installations.”

Taylor’s latest Thames sculpture – Rising Tide – depicts four suited businessmen on horseback, their steeds’ heads morphing into the familiar ‘donkey heads’ of oil refinery pumps.

As the tidal waters recede, the larger-than-life forms emerge from the waters.

Its none-too-subtle message – a comment on the impact of fossil fuels on our planet – suggests this is the work of an artist with a point to prove.

“I quite like the idea that the piece sits in the eyeline of the place where many politicians and so many people who are involved in climate change all work and make these damaging deals and policies, yet who are in this state of mad denial,” he has said.

Taylor, currently based in the Canary Islands, grew up in St Augustine’s Road, where he still has family.

Born in 1974 to an English father and Guyanese mother, the sculptor spent much of his early childhood exploring the coral reefs of Malaysia.

After graduating in 1998 with a BA in sculpture Taylor became a qualified diving instructor and underwater naturalist.

It was from this exposure to marine biology that his passions for conservation and art began to converge.

He began to make a name for himself, creating underwater sculptures at renowned dive sites.

“I was very much into finding a way of using my art for environmental purposes,” he says. “It’s pretty simple.

"By placing the sculptures in the water we can divert divers from the fragile coral reefs and at the same time create new reefs. The pieces are always developing and changing.”

In 2006 Taylor founded and created the world’s first underwater sculpture park. Situated off the west coast of Grenada in the West Indies, it is now listed as one of the Top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic.

Three years later he co-founded MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte), an installation of more than 500 of his sculptural works, submerged off the coast of Cancun, Mexico.

Taylor, a father-of-one, says he is living a charmed existence doing what he loves.

“I do OK,” he laughs. “I feel very lucky to be doing what I’m doing.”

One of his sculptures, Alluvia, graces the city’s Stour riverbed, next to the Westgate Towers.

The figures of two female swimmers, made from silica, can be viewed from the bridge to the north of the towers.

Taylor even suggests his latest sculpture Rising Tide could one day make its home in Canterbury.

"He told the Gazette: “I’d love to see them come to the city. Perhaps Canterbury City Council might be interested?”