WePresent first collaborated with acclaimed photographer and director Renell Medrano back in 2019 on PAMPARA, her first European exhibition and book. Since then we’ve developed a longstanding relationship with the artist, one that has spanned collaborative exhibitions, photography series and the launch of ICE Magazine, her debut magazine that subverts the male gaze and celebrates “ICE Girls” all around the world. We’ve once again teamed up with Renell on issue three of ICE Magazine, this time shot entirely in Rio de Janeiro, and you can download it exclusively from WeTransfer.
First launched in 2024 ICE Magazine was born from Renell Medrano’s desire for a magazine centering women. Looking at what existed on newsstands, the photographer couldn’t find a magazine that celebrated women and was–crucially–created through the lens of a woman, for women everywhere. Not guided by stereotypes, or the male gaze, or what society deems acceptable or in fashion, but something real. Unable to find anything that spoke to her, Renell took matters into her own hands, and ICE Magazine was born. Issue one’s visual direction was loosely based on a subversive take on 70s softcore men’s magazine Players and was guided by a spirit of play, exploration and sensuality, celebrating women who are unapologetic, magnetic and entirely their own. Each issue is shot in a new city, ultimately creating a global map of women taking ownership over their own image. Issue one was shot in New York City—Renell’s hometown–and captured the nuance and grit of New York’s ICE Girls. Issue two moved to Atlanta and now, for issue three, Renell has taken ICE Magazine international.
Photographed entirely in Rio de Janeiro over Carnival 2026, issue three of ICE Magazine is perhaps the most sumptuously visual issue yet. Brazil’s ICE Girls are photographed in bright bikinis on beaches, in the clifftops above the city's favelas, or wearing full Carnival feathered outfits with the lights of Rio glittering in the background. The whole issue feels alive. “It ended up feeling like home,” Renell says in her editor’s letter. “There were echoes of the Dominican Republic in the people, the places and the spirit…The passion and urgency that runs through Brazil feels familiar.” And besides the 16 models in the issue, there is one more that takes her place as an ICE Girl: Renell’s close friend Hailey Bieber.
Photographed in perhaps her most empowering shoot to date, Hailey, who is half Brazilian, speaks about how Brazilian culture has influenced her throughout her life, and why Renell was the only person she would trust for a shoot like this. “I’m comfortable with her pushing me, photographing me differently, helping me be seen in a different way,” she says in the magazine, “because I know she just wants me to be comfortable in myself, too.”
Created in collaboration with WePresent, limited copies of issue three of ICE Magazine are available to buy and the digital magazine (in both English and Portuguese) is available to download now, from WeTransfer.