Connolly graduated from
Corcoran College of Art and Design. She worked for
Dischord Records and d.c. space in Washington, DC. In 1988, she published
Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes From the DC Punk Underground (79–85) through her
small press Sun Dog Propaganda. The book was compiled with
Sharon Cheslow and Leslie Clague.
Banned in DC documented the early
hardcore punk scene in
Washington, DC, including bands like
Bad Brains and
Minor Threat. One of Connolly's most well-known works is the album art for
Out of Step, the 1983 LP by hardcore punk band
Minor Threat. The cover art shows a black crayon-drawn sheep, with his eyes wide open, leaping away from a group of white water-colored sheep. The black sheep has become a symbol for Dischord Records and the label's punk movement; it is widely copied as tattoo art. In a 2015 interview with music blog
Dangerous Minds, Connolly said about the sketch:Minor Threat had asked me to make a drawing for the
Out of Step cover. Ian Mackaye and I discussed something to do with a black sheep. The obvious idea was a black sheep that was leaping away from all the white sheep. The black sheep symbolized all of us, the kids that were doing something different, going against the grain of what was going on at the time. I thought of us as young and energetic. I was just 19 when I drew the sheep, I think.
I was young and energetic! It was 1983. In addition to traditional art galleries, Connolly has showcased her work in
ad hoc art spaces, such as warehouses, bars, vacant buildings, squats and
people's homes. She letterpresses her own promotional posters and postcards. In 2002, she participated in the
Rural Studio Program of
Auburn University in Newbern,
Alabama. Connolly's Alabama photo collection has been shown in four main solo exhibitions as well as group gallery shows, including Transformer Gallery, Auburn University's Rural Studio, SUNY Purchase, amongst others. Her photographic series of "Ice Machines", and her postcards, books and the cover artwork for Minor Threat's "Out of Step" EP were featured in an art exhibition Beautiful Losers, reviewed in Art in America. Connolly collaborated with
Lee Ranaldo of
Sonic Youth on the 2004 book
Lengths & Breaths, with her photography illustrating Ranaldo's text. The work exhibited at Civilian Art projects in 2012 made its way to the collection of the J Paul Getty Museum in her home town of Los Angeles, California. Cynthia Connolly continues to exhibit her photography and create ephemeral objects using her letterpress and photographs. She is the Special Projects Curator for
Arlington County, Virginia. Her work with Arlington County and the Arlington Art Truck earned a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts in 2017 and was nominated for the Robert E. Gard Award from
Americans for the Arts in 2019. == Publications ==