Michelle Gerard has been working on a personal photography project for the last 18 months called The Rollerblading Project. She’s been mostly documenting the Detroit rollerblading scene, but has also covered a 13-day rollerblading road trip to Toronto, Rochester, NYC, Philly, and Pittsburgh, and has covered a few trips to Ohio as well.

Her initial idea was to photograph rollerblading in a way that was different from the clichés and to show more of the lifestyle and fine art aspect of rollerblading. She gave herself three rules: no flash, no wide angle or fisheye lenses, and nothing is staged or set up. She never asked anyone to do a trick again, or told them what to skate. She wanted this to be a purely documentary viewpoint, and focused more on chill street sessions and the environment rather than the biggest/best tricks.

Anyway, she’s now nearing the end of the project and plans to hold a gallery show in Detroit this winter to expose the general public to rollerblading as a lifestyle and as art, and to thank all the people who participated in the project. The goal is to hold the show during Bittercold Showdown (on the Friday before, so no one misses any of the competition). Of course we agree with her that it would be amazing to see rollerblading showcased in the art world, and open to the general public, and with everyone to have a chance to see it in person if they’ll be in town for the comp.

The Rollerblading Project is using Kickstarter to help raise at least $7,000 for the show which will cost close to $15,000. In exchange for pledges, she’s offering rewards such as prints, stickers, a limited edition book, digital copies of the book, advance private screenings, and more.

To find out how to get involved as a supporter, cruise over to the Kickstarter page.