Jun 032008
Not long ago, I wrote about the stares I sometimes receive and my reactions to them. Montana-based artist Kevin Connolly, who was born without legs, took a more original tack and turned his camera on the gawkers ogling him in all corners of the globe. The photos capture people expressing varying degrees of curiosity as they check out Connolly. They really aren’t much different from the people staring at me. The human brain seems to be hardwired to respond to the novel and that’s why I have to wonder, if my own circumstances were different, whether I could be one of the people in these photos.
Staring at people is nice in a way. One can see it as a form of mildness. I don’t dislike like being stared at, and I have legs and arms and everything. Most people are too busy to give a second of their lives to somebody who isn’t special in some way. Most people are too busy and full of their own lives.
Moreover (this might seem strange to you) the people in Connolly’s photo galery don’t show staring faces, just ordinary unsmiling ones.