Sarah Rozie’s Glass Fish: Raising Awareness of the Fragility of Marine Life

New York City-based artist Sarah Rozie creates stained glass pieces of marine life. She transforms everything from octopuses to blue whales and manta rays into intricate and colourful glass pieces, using them to raise awareness of how glass, like the life of these wonderful creatures, is in real life. As climate change and human activity continue to encroach on their habitat and threaten their longevity, the marine biodiversity Rozie depicts is indeed as fragile as glass.

Photograph of Sarah Rozie. Image courtesy of Sarah Rozie’s website.

By sharing videos of her creating stained glass pieces of different marine species, Rozie cultivates her audience’s appreciation of marine biodiversity. This makes her pieces relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life Below Water.

Deep Ocean Collection by Sarah Rozie. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

Rozie shares the process behind her Deep Ocean Collection in bite-size and interactive videos that she uploads to Instagram and TikTok. These videos are edited in an engaging “cozy” aesthetic that immerses her viewers in the almost meditative slowness of her handmade crafts.

Pufferfish glass art by Sarah Rozie, part of her Deep Ocean Collection. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

Her audiences watch as she cuts, colours and fires her glass ornaments in a kiln, infusing each piece with her warmth, giving them respite from the quick paces of their daily lives.

Manga ray glass art by Sarah Rozie, part of her Deep Ocean Collection. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

She also handles each piece with great care, as if she were handling real fragile marine life instead of their glass likenesses. Her process and final piece become a metaphor for today’s fragile marine biodiversity.

Vampire squid glass art by Sarah Rozie, part of her Deep Ocean Collection. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

The Marine Stewardship Council states that maintaining marine biodiversity is important because it keeps oceans productive, resilient, and adaptable. Every single marine species, from vampire squids to sea dragons, has a role to play in their habitat and in the global ecosystem.

However, in the last 50 years, the world has seen a global decline in marine biodiversity, with fishing being the ocean’s largest threat. Around 34.4 percent of the world’s fish stock is currently overfished. Oceanic sharks and ray species have also declined by 71 percent since the 1970s.

Sea dragon glass art by Sarah Rozie, part of her Deep Ocean Collection. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

Sara Rozie’s glass art masterfully combines the fragility and beauty of marine life. They offer her audiences a chance to stop and reflect on the delicate balance that sustains the ocean and the roles that they can play in order to help ensure their longevity.

To encourage them to make better choices, such as supporting and buying from only sustainable fishing practices and promoting literacy on marine life.

Octopus glass art by Sarah Rozie, part of her Deep Ocean Collection. Image courtesy of @sarahrozie/Instagram.

Find out more about Sarah Rozie’s glass fish and their other pieces by checking their Instagram on @sarahrozie.