The Blonde Who Inspired Blonde

*Eyes* by The Collaborationist, August 2010

“Blonde”—a pale yellow or golden-brown color; a shade of hair that carries many connotations beyond its fair appearance. Since the ancient age of the Greek poet Homer, many bards have serenaded their tales of love, glory, and tragedy through characters of blonde description, using their hair as a symbol of youth, beauty, vitality, and more. In this tradition, Frank Ocean entitled his much-lauded 2016 studio album Blonde—a project emanating from his experiences in adolescence & early adulthood and one that continues to resonate with the youth of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

*Boys Don’t Cry*, p. 4; letter by Frank Ocean describing *Eyes* by The Collaborationist in its opening lines (Tumblr: *Frank Ocean*, 2016-08-20).

Accompanying his album came an epic in its own right, a 370-page magazine titled Boys Don’t Cry, featuring an eclectic curation of stories, poems, interviews, editorials, and photography by Frank Ocean & many others. Within its first few pages, the notoriously enigmatic artist offered a glimpse behind the curtain with a prologue reflecting on his experiences producing Boys Don’t Cry & Blonde.

In the opening lines of his magazine missive, Frank Ocean describes the photograph that inspired his album:

Two years ago, I found an image of a kid with her hands covering her face. A seatbelt reached across her torso, riding up her neck, and a mop of blonde hair stayed swept, for the moment, behind her ears. Her eyes seemed clear and calm but not blank; the road behind her seemed the same. I put myself in her seat; then I played it all out in my head: the claustrophobia hits as the seatbelt tightens, preventing me from even leaning forward in my seat. The pressing on internal organs. I lean back and forward to release it. Then backwards and forward again. There it is—I got free…
(Frank Ocean, Boys Don’t Cry, p. 4, 2016-08-20)

Just as a song may sway the heart, the power of a photograph cannot be underestimated. Frank Ocean selected Eyes by The Collaborationist (photographers Jessica Haye & Clark Hsiao) as his inspiration for Blonde—his muse & the subject of the photograph: a twelve-year-old Angel, with locks of eponymic potential. However, on that late-summer day in 2010, Angel carried a greater burden than the delicate strands of hair that swept across their shoulders. Behind their clear & calm eyes, Los Angeles faded into the distance as they journeyed down a desert highway to memorialize a late loved one, en route to spread their mother’s ashes into the whirling sands of Death Valley, California.

The Collaborationist’s image itself has a certain energy that was strong enough to convey something without Frank Ocean knowing its backstory, which I think is very magical…
(Angel, infra Q&A #5, 2024-07)

14 years have passed since The Collaborationist looked down the lens of their camera and captured that fleeting moment. Angel, a resident of the “City of Angels” at the time, has since taken flight from California and returned to their country of birth—Germany. Today, they speak to us from the “Grey City” of Berlin to give color to an image that has peered into the lives of many worldwide through the physical albums and magazines perched upon their shelves and the posters bonded to their walls. This is the story of the blonde kid who gave name to one of the greatest albums of all time.

Q&A: Angel, the blonde kid.

What is your relationship to The Collaborationist?

The photographers are the parents of my childhood best friend; I love The Collaborationist & their kid dearly to this day. Jessica Haye, my best friend’s mother, took the picture of me in the back of the car.

Why did you place your hands in front of your face in the photograph?

I was probably making the gesture of taking a picture, mimicking how they were pointing the camera at me, or maybe I was trying to make a frame for them to look into—that’s strange, it’s like: I made a frame, they took the picture, and then the picture was transported, cut, and made its own frame as it went along.

**What was your reaction to the release of Blonde & Boys Don’t Cry?**

I remember loving Blonde, but I didn’t know the album or magazine had anything to do with me for a long time. I was surprised when one day I saw the picture of myself on Tumblr with the ‘blonde’ text over it, and I was like… “What the f-ck?” Honestly, I thought I was tripping! I had to show it to people and ask, “Are you seeing this?”

Has Frank Ocean ever reached out to you?

Frank Ocean has never contacted me directly, but I got a check from his team once. I don’t want anything, and I don’t even think I did anything except exist & have a crazy experience, but it would be cool if he knew the story behind the photo because it was a very magical couple of days.

What is the story behind the photograph?

I was twelve, on the way to my mom’s memorial in August 2010; today is the 14-year anniversary of her passing, coincidentally. Jessica captured the photo while we drove to Death Valley to spread my mother’s ashes in a lightning storm.

My mother loved the desert and the ocean, so we wanted to split her ashes between both locations. We all drove out from Los Angeles to Death Valley in a big caravan, a couple of cars with close friends & family. We all stayed at a hotel for a few days—basically, the only hotel inside the national park. It was summer and scorching hot outside; during the day, it was like 110°F (43.3°C), at least—did you know Death Valley, California, is the hottest place on Earth? The heat caused my uncle to pass out & break his shoulder; he had to be airlifted out by a medivac helicopter.

Anyway, I remember driving into the endless, endless desert one night; it was very dark, and flashes of lightning illuminated the landscape, so it was pure darkness, and then—crack-boom!—all of the lightning shooting out of the clouds everywhere. We all parked and got out of the cars. It was extremely windy but still very warm. We tried to light some candles, but they went out immediately. There was sand in the wind, as well, and incredible lightning, but no rain; we all got a handful of my mother’s ashes and held them up, and the wind just blew her away.

I remember sitting in the backseat with my friend on the way back from Death Valley, watching a movie about vampires; it was one of those minivans with a DVD player in the ceiling. We planned to return to Los Angeles in one trip, but then we got a flat tire, and the nearest city was Las Vegas, Nevada. So we spent the night at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and I got to eat escargot for the first time in the fake Eiffel Tower. When my friend & I went to sleep, the adults went out gambling and used my lucky numbers to win so much money that our stay in the hotel paid for itself! They bought us these little bathing suits—mine was pink & orange—and in the morning, my friend & I went swimming in these enormous, Vegas-style pools; I’d never seen anything like it.

I think my friend’s parents, Jessica & Clark, wanted to make the trip special because it was a tough time for all of us—them too, because like, how do you deal with a tragic situation when sh-t in your friend’s life suddenly gets real? So I’m grateful to them; they gave me such an amazing experience. My memories are a little fragmented because I was small, and it was a very sad time, so I just have these flashes of images in my mind. It’s wild that this photo was captured of me during this time, and The Collaborationist’s image itself has a certain energy that was strong enough to convey something without Frank Ocean knowing its backstory, which I think is very magical—although I wish that one day, he could hear the story.

How far is a light-year? n.b.

The distance that light can travel in a year.

Angel lives a private life in Berlin where—in addition to their day job—they work as a part-time actor & model, appearing in various commercials & independent films; for any business-related inquiries, Angel is represented by Wir sind Uns (@wirsinduns), and is available by request. Ask for “Angel from Berlin.”

Voyage LA, “Check Out Jessica Haye and Clark Hsiao’s Story,” 2022-11-28

The Collaborationist is the Los Angeles-based photography studio of Jessica Haye (b. 1973) and Clark Hsiao (b. 1979). Since founding their partnership in 2010, the duo has accumulated an impressive list of clientele, receiving commissions from Hollywood A-listers, Silicon Valley tech giants, and premier art, fashion, trade & news publications. Together, they capture the beautiful landscapes & fascinating people that occupy the world around us and render them onto a medium for the masses.

Our process involves seeking ways to approach the poetry of the natural world that allows us to see individual moments from a slightly altered perspective.
(Jessica Haye & Clark Hsiao, Uprise Art, 2022-08-30)

One of The Collaborationist’s portraits caught the eyes of a generational poet; 14 years after its conception, in August 2024, Jessica Haye & Clark Hsiao were gracious enough to pull out all the f-stops to annotate their famed photograph and describe the circumstances that led to its discovery by Frank Ocean.

Q&A: The Collaborationist, the photographer.

Who is The Collaborationist?

We met while studying photography at the ArtCenter College of Design, and a few years after graduating, we started shooting together as The Collaborationist in 2010. We’ve shot both commercial & personal fine art work on a wide range of subjects, but mostly centering on people & places from a documentary tradition. We tend to be drawn to subjects & people that we find inspiring or spark new questions & exploration for us—and hopefully, for viewers of our work as well!

What is your relationship to Angel?

Jessica Haye: We’ve known Angel for many years. I was long-time friends with both of their parents, and Clark & I remain close with Angel & their family.

**What is the story behind Eyes?**

Eyes was made while we were on our way to Angel’s mother’s memorial & celebration of life in Death Valley. Angel rode with us & our daughter into the desert and back, and the image was captured on the trip out. The desert was one of Angel’s mother’s favorite places, and a group of family & friends spent the weekend out there remembering her and spending time together in that incredible place—it was a beautiful & moving time. Being the month of August in the desert, it was sweltering; the climate & setting made the time feel like it was sort of separate from regular life—it still feels dreamlike when we look back on it.

How did Frank Ocean come across your work?

We put the image on our website, where at some point, Frank Ocean came across it, and later in 2015, his team contacted us to license the image. It was pretty emotional for us to read what he wrote about our photograph in his letter about the album & magazine. Having people see our pictures and make a genuinely personal & meaningful connection is the ultimate goal of our work—so that felt very special. He sent us a copy of Blonde & Boys Don’t Cry when he finished the project, and we love that we have the physical object to remind us of that connection.

Where can people find your work, and how can they reach out to you?

We have a few collections of limited edition prints available online through Uprise Art NYC, and sometimes we sell artist’s proofs of other work directly; people can contact us through our website or Instagram for that. Also, we’ve been making limited edition hand-bound journals of our work for quite a while, and we’re eager to get those in front of more people—they’re kind of a top-secret menu item at this point! Emails & DMs are both good for reaching out to us.

**Is Eyes available for sale?**

We’ve been thinking of doing a run of limited edition prints of Eyes in a smaller size and at a more accessible price so that younger collectors or fans can have some access to the physical art. We’re still working out details on specs & pricing on that and the journals. In the meantime, people can reach out to us with inquiries!

How far is a light-year?

Something close to six trillion miles?—in “Futura Free,” we’re probably not meant to look for a mathematically precise answer anyway, but rather to think about how our experience of scale depends on our perspective. It’s pretty cool that our common humanity can give us all a shared sense of awe when we come into contact with something as galactically vast as six trillion miles.

The power of a photograph cannot be underestimated: a picture can defy time by reproducing an aperture’s worth of light for an indefinite duration, defy distance by providing instantaneous access to one location from another, defy diction by crossing over languages, and defy description by encapsulating a variety of emotions—some explicable, and others, ineffable. However, one thing that can be said is that The Collaborationist’s Eyes continues to inspire inquiry years after its initial dissemination, generating articles well beyond “a thousand words.”

For eight years, I’ve carried this photograph from home to home. Angel’s eyes have followed me from a poster mounted, dismounted, and remounted on many walls—a static character in a montage of scenes from my life. I was eager to animate them, to hear them speak and know their story—and what a beautiful and poignant tale it is. A photographer beset by the loss of a friend, transporting their bereaved child in a procession to celebrate their mother’s life in the valley of death.

This is The Blonde Who Inspired Blonde, a piece dedicated to Natascha—the mother of an Angel and the friend of an artist—may she rest in peace.

Written by Ben E. (aka Odysseus) with editing assistance by Curb.
Additional graphics courtesy of ECHOOFNAZARETH

Eyes by The Collaborationist appeared throughout the digital & physical artwork accompanying Frank Ocean’s album Blonde & magazine Boys Don’t Cry, released on August 20, 2016. Below you will find examples of its use throughout the campaign.