We travelled north to Tacuarembo this weekend to attend a wedding. I had not been up that way for almost a year and so was seeing some things on the road with a fresh eye – plus there is a lot going on up there. I had not seen this before, and it is clearly not new… I still can’t believe I missed it up to now.

The fishtailed figure is a mermaid perhaps, although a fearsome female warrior upper half brings the ancient British warrior queen Boadecea to mind – see the detail below – and this is not something I’d have ever associated with a mermaid. I know nothing about it, but it is my impression that construction was in two stages. First seems to have come an incredible, dedicated, probably long-lasting, flush of enthusiasm tackling a large reserve of small and often intricate bits and pieces of metal scrap to construct the front half. At this point though I think either the small parts sources suddenly dried up, or impatience to finish the task set in – indeed, such an abrupt change in the scale of parts used between the front and the rear portions might even signify a different maker completed the project! Anyway, I just love the rampant energy of the figure.

A note or two about the location of this. As I said, close to the northern edge of the town of Florida. What is almost as remarkable as the figure itself is that it is located bang smack under the crossing point of a couple of electrical wires ! and amidst quite a collection of power poles and soccer goals in a play area or park. It was impossible to find anywhere that provided a photo free of some kind of intrusion around the figure.