Disability Doesn’t Mean I Have to Forget My Dreams

We can marvel at the great artwork for its vivid “life”, but the works of Polish artist Mariusz Kedzierski are especially stunning and inspiring. That’s because he draws with no hands. Each piece takes him at least 20 hours to complete, while his most complicated work to date required 100 hours. In seven years, he has put in about 15,000 hours of work, completing over 700 drawings. The 23-year-old young man was born armless. “In the past years, I have asked myself and God ‘why me?’ many times. But when I accepted myself, I realized that if I had not be born without arms, I might not do what I do.” said Mariusz. At the age of 16, he decided to pursue his dreams. So he started teaching himself to draw, by pressing the ends of his arms against a pencil. “For me, disability doesn’t mean that I can’t live my own great life. It doesn’t mean that I have to forget my dreams,” he said. Thanks to his determination and hard work, he is able to create exceptionally realistic portraits in pencil on paper. One of his portraits received the second prize at the 2013 Best Global Artist Award in Vienna. Mariusz makes portraits because he thinks he can express himself through the “feelings included in other people’s eyes”. “I love those undisturbed feelings which are written in their looks,” he said. In addition to being an artist, Mariusz hopes to become a motivational speaker some day. “I have a message to everyone, not only for the disabled,” he said. “Fight for your dreams and live your own great life. Do things that the others are afraid to do. Don’t waste your time, because it’s priceless.” Right now, Mariusz is traveling throughout Europe, drawing on the streets of Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Athens, and many other iconic cities. He calls this project “Mariusz Draws”. “This way, I want to inspire people, and show them that all the limits are in our heads,” said Mariusz.