Phoenix Rise is a self-produced visual storytelling narrative from bespoke slow fashion designer and costumier, Jessica Rowell, in collaboration with artist and blues musician, Madame Flame, that expresses a journey in becoming.
“Drawing upon archetypal symbolism and teachings of the warrior, the sage, and the wild woman, a story is woven into a tale of self-sovereignty. Several years ago, I dreamt of a self-contained wild fox, a representation of part of myself I feared embracing and unleashing. Within this dream, the fox escaped its confinement and amidst sounding alarms and chaos the fox gracefully trotted toward me and aligned itself on my path and as our eyes met I was overcome with peace.”
“This fox led me to seek out the teachings and medicine work of Flame who has fervently embodied her wildish nature. The warrior resonates as a connector in igniting inner strength, overcoming obstacles, establishing boundaries, and aiding in clearing pathways. Sage speaks to spiritual practice and joins as a guide in honoring innate wisdom, listening to intuition, and seeking further knowledge. Then rebirthing as our true and authentically wildish selves, removing the self-imposed internal cage, setting fire to the soul and heeding its call.” – Jessica Rowell, designer.
About Flame: Madame Flame is a wild-souled woman born to be the living antidote to the disease of too-tame conformity. A wise fox-woman with a snake-mermaid’s past, her witchcraft is sourced from that bone-deep place of inherited knowing and ancestral power, from a spiritual potency that will not be ignored, and from a constant desire to both howl moonward and hiss into the mud. A Witch-Shaman, a Priestess, an ancestral medicine-keeper, and a true weaver of words, Flame has a haunting presence and a poet’s tongue. Find her in the graveyard making music with ghosts or conjuring witch baths or channeling the spirits to give counsel to her clients.
About Jessica: Jessica Rowell is a poly-disciplinary conceptual artist with origins in traditional art. Her work as a designer is a vessel to commune with the world and a pathway to offer empowerment and healing through those she adorns. Her creative process is intentional, meditative, and ritualistic in practice bypassing technical applications associated with fabrication and garment design. Merging her experiences collectively into a singular channel via fashion, her ongoing objective is to inspire, inform, and impact through visual storytelling. She is foraying into eco-fashion, branching from over a decade’s worth of work within upcycled design, to create consciously, ethically and connect deeper to the earth via natural materials and plant-based dyes.
Credits
Photographer/Videographer/Fashion Designer/Stylist/Makeup/Hair: Jessica Rowell @jessicarowell
Model: Madame Flame @holyfirewater
Gold Sequined Cape: Domonique Echeverria
Jewelry Designer: Marianna Harutunian @mariannaharutunian
Tragopan Headpiece: Gotham Taxidermy @gotham_taxidermy
Post-production (Eyes): @bbychakra
Shot with GoPro Hero 9 Black
Locations: Apache Wash Trailhead, Phoenix, Arizona [Look 1]
North Canyon Park, Phoenix, Arizona [Look 2]
Boynton Canyon Trail, Sedona, Arizona [Look 3]
Land acknowledgment: O’odham Jewed, Akimel O’odham, Ndee-Nnēē
Textiles: Natural Organic Sateen, Corn Maiden Organic Hemp Hand-dyed with Marigold, Flax grown Organic Linen Hand-dyed with Madder.
Pelts/taxidermy/bones: Ethically sourced and naturally deceased
Hoodoo Tarot Deck: Tayannah Lee McQuillar @tayannahleemcquillar
Soundtracks: “Airborne”, “Ghost Path”, and “Night” by Cosmic Abyss @coreycosmicabyss
