A Quest for Excellence

World acclaimed photographer Kevin Connolly takes us on a quest. For this documentary, Connolly was asked to interview extraordinary artists living with disabilities who were selected to perform in China in 2008 in an Elitha Peterson Production Performance Event called "A Marriage of Excellence".

Kevin sets out with his own baggage and perceptions of people living with disabilities. He grapples with his mixed emotions. Kevin was brought up to view his own physical differences as "normal".

He has already traveled around the world once. Seated on a skateboard, Kevin has taken 32,000 pictures of people staring at him. Kevin was born without legs. Although he has traveled extensively, this quest described in this documentary is quite different. Kevin is to discover a world of accomplished artists who embrace a struggle much deeper than he is prepared to recognize.

His cavalier battle to prove that he does not owe the world an explanation for his physical differences, his battle to prove that he is just an artist and not an artist with a disability, reveals his admitted disconnection with the disabled community.

"A Quest for Excellence" illuminates a reality, which for many years Kevin has avoided. He is forced to ask himself the same questions many disenfranchised achievers ask themselves: Do I owe anything to anyone? Why am I expected to care for those who are not as strong as I am? Will I be damned through association?

Confronted with his own disdain for labels he is unwittingly drawn into the need for them and ultimately has to choose between the black, the white or differences in between.

This documentary is a priceless and timeless piece that reveals the reality for all those who live with differences. For all of those who fight to be embraced by the majority of "normal" people.

On his travels, Kevin visits a gospel singer named Coach from South Africa who speaks of a world where although the end of apartheid may have provided freedom for millions, it has never ended in the eyes of many disabled South Africans. Dancers Ma Li and Zhang Xiaowei, in Beijing, show us a beautiful world where dancing without limbs provide an opportunity to use one another for support. And popular Canadian singer Justin Hines provides food for thought, which leaves Kevin grappling to revisit his own misconceptions.

EVENTS & PROGRAMMES

"A Quest for Excellence"
"The Art of Excellence"
"Marriage of Excellence Concerts"
"Marriage of Excellence Television"