The Rolling Exhibition is not your typical photography exhibit. Then again, Kevin Connolly is not your typical photographer. Connolly was born in Montana 1985, a healthy baby, but without legs. As a teenager he got into scateboarding and taking pictures. Last year while traveling abroad, tired of the way people stared at him because he has no legs, Connolly started staring back, through his camera: “I wanted to stare back at that guy, to let him know that, ‘Yeah, I catch you looking,’” he says. “And the way I did that was with my camera.” Combining his love of photography and his scateboard, which he prefers over his wheelchair which he rarely uses, Kevin embarked on an adventure, travelling to 15 countries in three months, from New Zealand to Japan, through Europe, Iceland, and then through America back to Montana. Always shooting from the hip, he would start his days heading away from the sun, shooting people as he rolled through cities and villages. By going to so many different countries, Connolly discovered how, on some level, we are really the same:

The thing I just loved was you had an executive-looking type guy in say New York City, someone who’s clearly wealthy enough to afford a very nice suit and a good cell phone, staring at you in the exact same way that a beggar in Ukraine would.

32,000 photos, 15 Countries, 31 Cities, and 32,000 photos later, Connolly discovered “One stare” captured on his online exhibit TheRollingExhibition.com. Connolly explains in his artist statement

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.

Kevin currently lives in Bozeman, Montana as a photographer and professional skier. and check out Connolly’s amazing photographs. Then see if the exhibit is rolling by you. It’s pretty hard to keep up with Kevin– he’s also a filmmaker and an award-winning skier, and up next is a trip to South America with a documentary film crew– but you can try by visiting Kevin Connolly’s website kevinmichaelconnolly.com.