BLonde

Blonde is an experimental photography project based on Frank Ocean’s album of the same name.

This body of work depicts joy, isolation, coming of age, substance abuse, relationships and countless other issues the youth are dealing with in daily life as well as in the process of growing up.

As an international student, I’ve found comfort in listening to Blonde during my time staying in Canada. More than often than not, I would be in situations that I find closely resemble what is mentioned in the songs, as we share the very same issues that are subtly described throughout Blonde.

Each picture is my own interpretation of a specific lyric from a specific song from the album. Some are quite literal while others are figurative.

During the process of creating Blonde, I had the opportunity to approach and exchange stories with my friends who I asked to model for this project. I learned that they went through somewhat similar experiences during their time here. The experiences they had were not exactly the same as mine, yet when it came down to the core of the cause, we all shared the same problems somehow.

Blonde is not only my way to show my endless love of the album, yet also my voice to communicate the supposedly “Canadian Dream” experience to my people as well as to the world. The purpose is for them to see past the mirage, to realize that behind there are also downfalls. It is indeed a beautiful and refreshing experience. However, it requires a lot more effort, endeavor, luck as well as endurance, patience, and resilience to be able to survive this turbulence of adulthood.

Essentially, these pictures represent moments of my youth, inspired by the album itself.