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Kendrell Daniels first started coming to the campus at Mississippi  State as a child, taking advantage of assistive technology resources from the T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability to improve his quality of life. As a teen, he began participating in the center’s Express Yourself! Art Program.

“That’s where I began painting and where I fell in love with art,” he said.

After earning his associate degree in art from East Mississippi Community College, Daniels came back to where his passion for art began.

Now an ����BT senior, the Kemper County native is working on his thesis project, with plans to graduate this May.

Daniels said while he enjoys painting and owns his own business selling his art, () he decided to focus on photography for his undergraduate degree at ����BT.

“Photography isn’t something easy with me using a wheelchair and having to find a way to setup and be consistent,” he said. “But being able to tell my story from my perspective through images has been really great for me.”

A lot of Daniels’ work includes self-portraits, and he said his thesis work is centered around telling his story of life as a disabled person and the emotions he goes through on a daily basis.

“I’m very quiet, so people don’t know what I go through personally. I’m glad I can use my photography to communicate that—what it’s like being disabled or a day in my life and what I’ve struggled with or how I feel about some things.”

He’s recently been experimenting with video—including voices and lights—and he said he’s excited to add that to his photography to help tell his story.

A member of the Baptist Student Union on campus, he also enjoys hearing stories from others with different backgrounds. He said BSU’s events focused on international students make an ideal setting for this.

In addition, Daniels has enjoyed making friends in ����BT Athletics and was excited to have an opportunity to create a photography exhibit for the division’s main office.

The soon to be college graduate said being disabled on a large campus does present challenges, but he has been able to rely on the T.K. Martin Center to help him navigate and find resources.

“Being a disabled person in society is all about resources because you have to rely on people to do certain things, which is difficult,” he said.

But, Daniels doesn’t plan to let the extra challenges slow him down any time soon. He recently got his driver’s license and started an internship with Starkville Strong. After graduation, he plans to continue his education and expand his painting business to include photography. He also aspires to start a nonprofit for people with disabilities to create art.

By Christie McNeal on February 21, 2025