REBELLE ZINE
TRANSCEND
ISSUE 06 | FALL 2023
An upward glance on a clear night reacquaints us with our oldest ancestors: the stars. There’s an undeniable sense of familiarity in these distant bodies. Across time and space, their dust has been repurposed again and again by nature’s boundless creativity, eventually imagining us into being.
Now here we are, so far from where we began, driven by the same urge to create. It’s in this emotional upcycling that we make art, we redefine ourselves, and we explore new possibilities.
In the sixth issue of Rebelle Zine, we feature artists of various disciplines who have risen above limitations, envisioned new realities, and created work that reaches beyond the physical and into the spiritual.
Are you ready to TRANSCEND?
222: THE MANTRA THAT INSPIRED RALPH’S MOST EMPOWERED MUSIC YET
BY MAEVE DEVRIES | @MAEVEDELIA
Raffaela Weyman, better known by her moniker Ralph, is a Toronto-based pop artist who makes you stop and listen. Her tracks are infectiously danceable, yet always invite us to know more about her. Her clever storytelling reaches beyond lyrics to sculpt the sound itself, including her vocal delivery. Ralph knows exactly how to adapt her voice to fit the feel of each track, whether she’s expressing dulcet vulnerability or laying down harmonies on a sparkly bop. While undeniably pop, she nods to various stylistic genres and eras, making her music feel simultaneously…
HEARING THINGS
BY CALISTA | @CALISTA.DE
"This was an old self portrait I did back in lockdown. It was one of the first photos I took of myself and one of the first photos that really made me see myself. All I could do when I took it was stare at it. I felt so proud, but then I began to pick it apart and it hurt. I decided to post it anyways. It was my first portrait set that seemed like people liked it."
ANOTHER PLACE
BY CALISTA | @CALISTA.DE
“Another place is about a girl from another world. This was modelled by my friend Cherry @cherrywhine__. “
PANACEA
BY ISABELA GUZMAN YEPES | @ISSY.GY
“I trust my work is important because I believe through poetry, one can find a home. Poetry, in my opinion, is so raw and delicate but simultaneously bitter. I believe that through hurting, one can find healing. My poetry inspires me, which is why I want to share it with you, in hopes that it will also inspire the world and remind individuals of the wonders they are capable of. In the end, they are the ones to bring my words to life.”
WATERS OF SULIS
BY HANNAH TAYLOR | @INTERLUDETWO
"This series centres around the spiritual transformation I underwent after a near-death experience, in the hopes of channelling the beauty in post-consciousness and exploring the transcendence from our material reality. These 3D photography/collage pieces were influenced by the above with a focus on the importance of nature as a means of tethering our lives to the earth, admiring the mud and rock pools that we were born from and that we will die with, which are then immortalized with love in the digital space."
I MOLD MY BODY TO FIT MY NEEDs
BY SALEM PAIGE | @CORPSEOFAPOET
I strongly believe that becoming comfortable in our skin requires reclaiming our bodies from a society that acts as though it owns them. I believe that twice over when it comes to trans folks like myself. Being trans can often mean feeling as though you’re born into a body that doesn’t feel comfortable for you, sometimes to the point of debilitating discomfort…
DEFECTIVE EMBODIMENT
BY FATOUMATA GANDEGA | @FANTASYMINA_
“Are you?
Are you pushing through the realms of your reality?
The distortion of your being existing?
Are you alive?
How do you know?
Stand up my child,
Your time is falling apart.
Run towards the end of the maze.
Are you?
Are you the main character of your life?
Your soul is fighting for recognition.
Are you?
Are you wasting the potential of your existence?
Can you feel it?
This vital urge to survive.”