Man Without Legs Returns Public Gaze

Kevin Connolly was born without legs. It was a ’sporadic birth defect’. No event, chemical, accident or experiment caused the defect. It was just a twist of fate. But that has never stopped the average observer from drawing their own conclusions and creating scenarios to explain what they cannot comprehend while in the vicinity of Kevin.

During his travels, he has been mistaken for a Thalidomide victim, a beggar, a holy man, a magician and the victim of a shark attack. In reality he is a remarkable young man from Montana who never let what others would perceive as a handicap limit his ambitions.

He studies film and photography at Montana State University and, while perched upon the skateboard he uses for mobility, he has taken more than 32,000 photos of the stares he attracts during his travels across the world – 15 countries at last count.

“I was just kind of sick of being stared at, and I was looking back with my lens.”

Many of his photos are displayed on his Internet site, therollingexhibition.com. The photos are candid and from Kevin’s field of vision. The photos are a compelling and often humorous essay on human nature in different cultures. One can look at the faces of the photo subjects and not only see their confusion, but also their ease following their subsequent fanciful interpretations of who Connolly is, and why.

Kevin currently lives in Bozeman, Montana as a photographer and professional skier.

Other well-traveled limbless wonders include Johnny Eck, Dick Hilburn, Mademoiselle Gabrielle and Prince Randian.

via CSMonitor.
www.therollingexhibition.com