Kevin Connolly was born without legs. Life without his lower limbs is all that he has ever known. His journey is compelling and thought provoking. Kevin's life is what you would consider normal if you just heard his story and not seen the person. Kevin spent his youth camping out, rock climbing and skiing. He became so skilled as a skier that he even went on to win a silver medal in the January 2007 X Games - not too shabby for a person who cannot even walk. Kevin is a senior at Montana State University who studies film and photography. He took is love for photography and created an exhibition that is being talked about all over TV and the web. My friend Mark saw a feature on 20/20 that highlighted the intriguing work of Kevin Connolly and I had to share. On his website therollingexhibition.com, Kevin features photographs that he has taken that are interesting and touching. Kevin photographs the stares of onlookers that he has come across around the globe. Despite the vast cultural differences he is met with in each country, the reaction he tends to receive is pretty universal. 
Kevin navigates his terrain not by wheelchair but atop a skateboard. In the 20/20 story, Kevin describes how he began his photographic journey - "I was rolling down a street in Vienna, and had just left New Zealand, and was a bit bummed out," Connolly said. "I hadn't seen my family in about a year, and I'd left a whole group of friends behind. And so, I was by myself, having to deal with stares. I was just kind of sick of being stared at, and I was looking back with my lens." The story is touching and the photographs are unique.
On Kevin's website, he includes an Artist's Statement which reads:
1 year ago I was asked by a little boy in Christchurch, New Zealand if I had been eaten by a shark.
2 months ago I was asked by an elderly woman in Sighisoara, Romania if I had lost my legs in a car accident.
6 weeks ago I was asked by a bar patron in Helena, Montana if I still wore my dog tags from Iraq.
Everyone tries to create a story in their heads to explain the things that baffle them. For the same reason we want to know how a magic trick works, or how mystery novel ends, we want to know how someone different, strange, or disfigured came to be as they are. Everyone does it. It's natural. It's curiosity. 
But before any of us can ponder or speculate - we react. We stare. Whether it is a glance or a neck twisting ogle, we look at that which does not seem to fit in our day to day lives. It is that one instant of unabashed curiosity - more reflex than conscious action - that makes us who we are and has been one of my goals to capture over the past year.
It is after this instant that we try to hazard a guess as to why such an anomalous person exists. Was it disease? Was it a birth defect? Was it a landmine? These narratives all come from the context in which we live our lives. Illness, drugs, calamity, war - all of these might become potential stories depending upon what we are exposed to in connection with disability.
In each photograph the subjects share a commonality, but what does their context say? Looking at each face, I saw humanity. Rolling through their streets, I found the unique cultures and customs that created an individual.
What I love about this whole story is how Kevin was able to capture such real emotion. I have always thought that the true essence of really great art, is art that captures the human story. Art that reflects real grit, or ugliness, or beauty is what strikes me as great. Many of the photographers that I love seem to capture what I always call a "slice of life". The photos are real and tell a story. These photos are many people's story. They shed light on Kevin's journey and also on the people he comes in contact with. I would be lying if I said that there were times that I saw someone that was handicapped or with vastly different type of physical attribute and did not do a double take. It's in our human nature to be surprised or intrigued. Kevin's story is about more than just the notion of surprise though. His story is about people's tendency to make assumptions, judgments or decisions before even having spoken to him. It's just so real and that is beautiful to me.
Be sure to visit Kevin's site - kevinmichaelconnolly.com to learn more about the artist, the skier, the photographer and the student. Also, take a moment to visit the website featuring his current exhibition - therollingexhibition.com. It's pretty amazing.
Thanks Mark for the heads up! I really appreciate it! xo.
Glad you took the interest I did. My favorite part of the interview I saw was when he said that if he saw someone like him "hell yeah, I would stare". Never once does he victimize himself or use the pictures to say that the people who are curious are bad or evil...curiosity is a human thing.
Posted by: Mark | January 7, 2008 at 03:10 PM