Shock absorber

Photographer Kevin Connolly is used to people staring at him. The 22-year-old American was born without legs, and he gets around on a skateboard, propelling himself with his hands.

Photographer Kevin Connolly is used to people staring at him. The 22-year-old American was born without legs, and he gets around on a skateboard, propelling himself with his hands. 8220;Before pity, empathy or sympathy, there8217;s a moment of shock and curiosity,8221; Connolly says. 8220;It8217;s mostly just slack-jawed: What8217;s that?8221;

In 2007, Connolly traveled around the world and took 32,728 pictures of people staring at him. Fifteen of his photos are on display in the Kennedy Center8217;s Hall of States, Washington DC. He calls it 8220;The Rolling Exhibition.8221;

Rich, poor, young and old all stare at Connolly in photos from 15 countries. In Romania, a man in religious garb chats on a cellphone and looks at Connolly with a confused expression. In the Czech Republic, two castle guards in light blue uniforms march at attention, looking straight ahead. Connolly8217;s camera catches a third guard8217;s eyes glance downward at him.

To make people feel comfortable staring at him, Connolly held the camera near his hip and looked in the opposite direction. That way, people wouldn8217;t fear getting caught. Because he was unable to use the camera8217;s viewfinder, he memorized how to frame shots from his street-level perspective. He shot most of the photos while in motion; thus, 8220;The Rolling Exhibition.8221;

People wondered why there was a man with no legs skateboarding next to them. A little boy in New Zealand asked him if he had been eaten by a shark. Someone in Sarajevo assumed he was a victim of the Balkan war. In his home town; a man asked him about Iraq and if he still wore his dog tags. Lots of people tried to give him money, thinking he was a beggar. Ukrainians were the most aggressive. When Connolly refused their handouts, they shoved cash in his backpack..

The real story: doctors told him it8217;s a 8220;sporadic birth defect,8221; which Connolly interprets as they have no idea why he was born without legs.

8220;My parents made the decision to not put me in a wheelchair or a hospital,8221; he says. 8220;They just took me home.8221; He wears what he calls a 8220;boot8221; on the bottom of his torso, which keeps his posture straight and protects him from the ground, like a shoe.

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Connolly traveled alone for half of his three months abroad. The only snag was when he got hit by a car in Bosnia. He fell off his board and bruised his ribs.

Connolly is used to doing things that people might assume he8217;s incapable of. He won a silver medal in the 2007 X Games8217; monoski event; the money helped finance his trip. But don8217;t act too impressed, says James Joyce, Connolly8217;s film professor at MSU.

8220;When I want to agitate him, I tell him he8217;s my hero and he hates that,8221; Joyce says. 8220;He absolutely hates that. What he wants is for you to respect him for his work and not for overcoming his challenges8217;.8221;VSA arts brought 8220;The Rolling Exhibition8221; to the Kennedy Center. Says Stephanie Moore, the organization8217;s director of visual arts. 8220;I think his work comes from a place of empowerment. It8217;s a great first-person narrative of a person with disability, but he8217;s a talented photographer in his own right.8221;