Black Scuba Divers Diving with a Purpose - Tosha Grantham
About Tosha Grantham
Tosha Grantham is the latest guest on Women Mind the Water Artivist series on WomenMindtheWater.com. Tosha holds an advanced degree from Howard University in art history, with a focus on contemporary art and specializations in American and African diaspora arts. She lives in Florida where she learned about the work of Diving with a Purpose, an international nonprofit that for trains Black scuba divers to assist in the documentation of underwater culturally and environmentally important sites. The podcast highlights her experiences with Diving with a Purpose and the important work they are doing.
DWP focuses on both archaeological work on shipwrecks and ecological study of the health of coral beds. The archaeological "work creates a richer and more voluminous understanding of African and African American people in very many layers. We are working on reconciling deep and painful experiences through locating and doing the actual research to know what the experiences of those people lost at sea were and to include that in stories we have of survival and being.”
Tosha also contributes in another way. She works on coral restoration. She knows that the ocean is important in many ways and that it is important to keep it healthy for now and future generations. The work also helps her as an artist to see more of the world and expand her perspective. She says we must find ways not to use so much energy and find alternatives that make us better stewards. Tosha sees this connection as making the task of maintaining and restoring the ocean a little less daunting.
Diving, Diaspora, and Reclaiming Ocean Narratives
Tosha grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and spent time in the DC area during college and her early career. Her connection to the ocean began through a summer program at Spelman College, where she explored nature, art, and snorkeling. That experience opened her eyes to the relationship between environmental responsibility and creative expression—and began shaping her path forward.
Her work today is deeply tied to Diving With a Purpose (DWP), where she helps locate and document shipwrecks connected to the transatlantic slave trade. Through this work, she contributes to uncovering and honoring histories that have long been overlooked—bringing deeper understanding to the African and African American diaspora beyond a single narrative. It is both research and remembrance, helping to reconcile painful histories while expanding stories of resilience and identity.
Through DWP programs in archaeology and coral restoration, Tosha learned to truly “see” the underwater world. In the CARES (Collective Approach to Restoring our Ecosystems) program, divers document reef health using underwater survey methods, collecting data that is shared with organizations like National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This work allows her to contribute as a citizen scientist while supporting broader conservation efforts.
DWP brings together a diverse community—students, veterans, educators, and professionals—united by a shared purpose. For Tosha, that sense of connection is powerful. It not only strengthens the work being done but also makes the challenge of protecting the ocean feel more possible.
As both an artist and diver, she sees this work as a way to expand perspective, deepen understanding, and inspire stewardship. Her message is clear: we must rethink how we live, reduce our impact, and come together to care for the ocean—for today and for future generations.
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00:00:00 Pam Ferris-Olson Today on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series on Women Mind the Water dot com, I am speaking with Tosha Grantham, founder of Middle Path, a creative consulting firm that focuses on art and environmental concerns. Tosha earned a master’s degree from Howard University in Art History, with a focus on contemporary art and specializations in American and African Diaspora arts. After she moved to Florida, Tosha learned about the work of Diving with a Purpose, an international nonprofit that for nearly two decades has trained Black scuba divers to assist in the documentation of underwater culturally and environmentally important sites around Florida and the Caribbean. Today’s conversation will highlight Tosha’s experiences with Diving with a Purpose.
00:00:54 Pam Ferris-Olson The Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater dot com engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the ocean. Through their stories, Women Mind the Water hopes to inspire and encourage action to protect the ocean and her creatures.
00:01:18 Pam Ferris-Olson Today I am speaking with Tosha Grantham who is doing important work in the restoration of coral reefs. Tosha is, by training and professionally, an art historian. As a volunteer scuba diver with the non-profit Diving with a Purpose, Tosha has learned how to identify and document characteristics of a healthy ocean. Specifically Tosha has learned how to conduct surveys of reef fish, invertebrates and ocean floor substrates, all important in determining the health of coral reefs.
Welcome Tosha. I am grateful to you for making time to talk with me. I believe you have much to share about the intersection of art and the rarely seen world that lies below the ocean’s surface. I’d like to begin by learning a little about you and your academic and professional journey. Tosha, where did you grow up and when did your interest in art history begin?
00:02:13 Tosha Grantham Well, first I'd like to thank you, Pam, for having me on Wo(men) Mind the Water and also being able to speak to you about DWP CARES. I grew up in Richmond, VA and also spent a lot of time living in the Washington DC area. Having gone there for school, first undergraduate at Georgetown, and then later studying at Howard. But I also worked in DC over the years. In the late 90s, there's a professor emeritus of Art and Art history at Spelman College, Dr. Arturo Lindsey. And he started a summer art colony that was based in and still flourishes in a Caribbean Panamanian village called Portobello. And so as a part of our artistic process, we would work in nature and also snorkel. So it's really during that experience working and having a studio on the water and snorkeling as a part of gathering and research that really made me want to say, “OK, I see how this connects. How environmentally responsible materials are important and how just being in that environment informs me and my work and makes me feel.”
00:03:40 Pam Ferris-Olson So the history for many African Americans is deeply entwined in the slave trade and their ancestors journey across the Atlantic. Is there an area of art that focuses on this history from the perspective of what lies below the waves?
00:03:56 Tosha Grantham So African and African diasporic, American, European, international, African. People have not only history in the slave trade but also in transatlantic and transpacific. I feel that the slave trade, and particularly DWP's work, in really locating and documenting ships that are on the bottom of the ocean that carried our ancestors creates a richer and more voluminous understanding of African people and American people in many ways, like in many layers. So we are working on reconciling this, you know, very deep, painful experience through locating and doing the actual research to know what the experiences of those people who were lost at sea were and to include that in the stories that we have of survival and being. You know, being very involved in developing stories of African and African American history today.
00:05:22 Tosha Grantham When I learned how to dive, I really wanted to learn how to see and explore this vast universe. This vast landscape that's below us. That's a part of the world that we live in, and it just really made me want to be able to stay down longer and to see more in the area around 15 to 30 feet. Through the two archeology courses that I took with the Diving with a Purpose in the Keys, the Florida Keys, and also in the village of Cahuita in Costa Rica. I started to learn underwater archaeology. And at the same time I was studying coral survey techniques through CARES which is our collective approach to restoring our ecosystem.
It's important to understand that DWP CARES has two branches: the archaeology side and also the coral restoration side, which is newer. We have an online course that's actually occurring right now where students are learning how to identify the animals and what are the characteristics of a healthy reef. But also like facing the fact that we won't always have the reefs of our minds or of our dreams. We also have to document what's actually going on. And sometimes that shows distress or overfishing or too much fertilizer, creating extra nitrites in the water. So there's a part of it that is being able to use the skills that you have as a diver, to have a clipboard in hand and your mylar-like leadless pencil. You know, documenting fish on what's called a line of transect. So you and a buddy have an area that you're responsible for. You go down the line looking for certain types of fish, like yellow snapper or maybe Margaret Margate. You may also be looking for the size of a parrot fish to make sure it's within the range that you want to document as an indicator. And then you go back up the line looking for things like spiny lobster and sea urchins, banded coral shrimp, or any of the indicators in the vertebrate column. So it's very like slow, tedious, detailed work to actually, you know, get usable results. We have fantastic teachers at CARES. They are taking online instruction right now. I think 55 adults and young people came by so we will all be prepared in June to get in the water as survey teams and do the work in the Keys.
00:08:37 Pam Ferris-Olson So what is the background of many of the divers?
00:08:41 Tosha Grantham It can vary. I think that there is a very strong core group of DWP divers who are scientists and veterans or engineers or doctors. People who had various fields and spent time, you know, diving and diving in amazing places all over the world and coalescing. Different skill sets. So you know it's a big volunteer effort. But they're also teachers and students and veterans. You know, it's really an effort of so many different professions and so many different sensibilities, but all connect to diving.
00:09:26 Pam Ferris-Olson Fascinating. So have you encountered challenges as you've trained to work as a volunteer for Driving with a Purpose? And if so, what kind of challenges is there in doing this kind of work?
00:09:38 Tosha Grantham Well, you definitely have to be prepared and like totally fit. We always need more resources to be able to train other divers, especially young people.
Sometimes you may want to go out on a dive and you have it well mapped out. You're going to either do these coral surveys or this archaeological project and then the weather won't allow you. So you can be in place and prepared and have to wait another day or two. There is definitely the need for flexibility when coming up with projects that involve the ocean.
00:10:30 Pam Ferris-Olson It sounds like a very enriching program. What happens to the data that you collect? Does it get published?
00:10:40 Tosha Grantham The organization CARES has a relationship with NOAA. Kramer Wimberley, who is the lead instructor and master diver associated with CARES and the founder of CARES and also a DWP board member, is also active in the archaeology side. He works with organizations like the National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA, so the data collected is sent to organizations and broader databases that can use it. So one of the things we're doing is to try to learn how to make accurate data sets that can be uploaded to organizations that need the data to help manifest science.
00:11:31 Pam Ferris-Olson Important work. So what keeps you going or going back to Diving with a Purpose?
00:11:38 Tosha Grantham Well, it feels like something that I can contribute. My training has largely been in the arts. I have taken geology and biology and, you know, some sciences. So it's been so long academically it’s a nice way as a citizen science. It’s not like a trained marine biologist who is able to contribute through broader studies, but it's nice to as an artist, as a diver as an organizer to be able to use those skill sets to help in this way. Whether you dive or not, the ocean is contributing a lot of oxygen to the air we breathe. So it feels really good to be able to learn techniques and platforms that allow me to contribute to ocean.
00:12:40 Pam Ferris-Olson Nicely said. So does your work with Diving with a Purpose affect your relationship with art?
00:12:47 Tosha Grantham I would say “Yes”, because it's definitely helping the way that I see. And the environments that I'm seeing are expanding. As I get an opportunity to reengage with art, I'm sure that there will be an impact. I feel the impact already in other types of work that I'm doing.
00:13:10 Pam Ferris-Olson I'd like to have you tell us where we can go to learn more about Diving with a Purpose.
00:13:17 Tosha Grantham So Diving with a Purpose dot org is the website. In the program category, you can see both the archeology, the maritime archaeology program, and CARES which is the collective approach to restoring our ecosystem. And in each group you will see adults and youth opportunities. You'll see opportunities for 14 to 21 year olds in the archaeology and the CARES category. And then there may be international opportunities like Costa Rica for archaeology and Honduras for CARES.
00:13:57 Pam Ferris-Olson Very good. Thank you. So I'd like to ask you now for a call to action on behalf of the ocean. What do you think is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed and what do you recommend people do to address the problem?
00:14:12 Tosha Grantham As people here know, one of the greatest and most important things that we can do is to take care of the ocean and everything that we have, both environmentally and each other, so that these resources remain for next generations. Our most important job is to course correct in ways that don't use so much energy and resources up and find greater ways to contribute to sourcing so that we are responsible Earth stewards for future generations.
00:14:53 Pam Ferris-Olson So Tosha, I wonder how you respond to people who suggest that they don't have it within their power to protect something as large as the ocean, which makes up 3/4 of our planet.
00:15:06 Tosha Grantham Well, it's a daunting proposition and it is a big resource. Newly learning so much through taking the CARES coral courses and participating in the underwater aspects of the archaeology program has just plugged in to the number of people and organizations who are doing this globally. So in some ways it's affirming because there are a lot of people out there really trying to create community and greater resource and connectivity between all of the people who are doing the work so. It is big. I think that there are people out there who really are, you know, giving it their very best to do everything they can.
00:16:02 Pam Ferris-Olson Thank you, I am really grateful you shared your story with Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. I hope listeners have had a window opened on a world they were previously unfamiliar.
I’d like to remind listeners that I have been speaking with Tosha Grantham, an art historian and volunteer with Diving with a Purpose, an international nonprofit that for nearly two decades has trained Black scuba divers to assist in the documentation of underwater culturally and environmentally important sites. Tosha Grantham is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. The series can be viewed on Wo(men) Mind the Water.com, Museum on Main Street, and YouTube. An audio-only version of this podcast is available on Wo(men) Mind the Water dot com, on iTunes, and Spotify. Wo(men) Mind the Water is grateful to Jaine Rice for the use of her song Women of Water. All rights for the Wo(men) Mind the Water name and logo belong to Pam Ferris-Olson. This is Pam Ferris-Olson.
