Kevin Michael Connolly

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Connolly on Archetypes interview program in 2013.

Kevin Michael Connolly is an American photographer who was born without legs. He has made a collection of photographs of people's reactions to him as he traveled the world, and published it on the Internet.

Early life

Connolly was born in Helena, Montana in August, 1985.[1] He was born without legs, as a "'sporadic birth defect,' which is basically the doctors saying they don't know what happened.", he says.[2]

His parents didn't coddle him; as a toddler he wasn't treated any differently than his sisters, Meagan and Shannon, and grew up floating rivers and climbing mountains. His parents enrolled him in

extreme sports competition.[4]
He travels mostly by propelling himself with his arms on his
prosthetic legs since age 12.[3]

Photographic exhibition

One day, on a 2006 solo trip through Europe, in Vienna, Connolly got tired of being stared at, and without looking through the camera's viewfinder, took a series of photos of people staring at him as he wheeled by.[4] He liked the results. With the money from his X Games winnings, he took an 11-week international trip over summer break in 2007, through 15 countries, through New Zealand, Europe, Japan, and back to America. He published the photos on a web site, called "The Rolling Exhibition.com"[3][5]

Connolly's initial exhibit drew national media attention, garnering stories at CNET,

20/20.[9] The exposure and interest in Connolly's life lead to a book deal with HarperCollins.[10] Instead of releasing a book simply consisting of his photographs, Connolly's penned a memoir using photos as chapter breaks. The resulting book, Double Take (HarperStudio – Oct 2009), was well received by critics and earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly.[11]

Armed and Ready

In February 2013, the Travel Channel network premiered a new reality series starring Connolly entitled Armed & Ready. The show features Connolly travelling around the U.S. and the world engaging in local events and physical challenges.[12]

Bibliography

  • Double Take: A Memoir. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

References

  1. ^ "The Rolling Exhibition: Contact and Bio" Archived 2016-05-24 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  2. 20/20, ABC News
    , January 1, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "A legless artist documents the world in 32,000 stares", by Ray Sikorski, The Christian Science Monitor, January 22, 2008 edition. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  4. ^ a b "What Are You Looking At?", by Kevin Sites, Yahoo! People of the Web, March 19, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  5. Montana State University
    , November 27, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  6. ^ Jackson, Holly (2008-07-03). "Photographer without legs tells life story from ground up". CNET. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  7. ^ Toalson, Chris (2008-02-20). "Photographer Without Legs Returns Stares". NPR. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  8. ^ Beckman, Rachel (2008-07-03). "The Lens Stares Back". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  9. 20/20
    . Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  10. ^ Wilson, Stiv (2009-02-28). "Wend Cover Story: Kevin Connolly Signs Book Deal With Harper Collins". Wend. Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  11. ^ "Nonfiction Reviews: 9/7/2009". Publishers Weekly. 2009-09-07. Archived from the original on September 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  12. ^ http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/armed-and-ready

External links

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