THE ROOTLESS
ERIK ROSENLUND JENSEN | AGE 58
Erik Rosenlund Jensen is from Middelfart and became a skilled carpenter at the age of 15. He married and had two children.
When he was 26, he bet his friends that he could become a member of the army special forces. He applied for admission and got in. Erik was later stationed in Afghanistan, where he by mistake shot a father and his child.
Erik returned to Denmark and tried to resume his family life and work as carpenters. But the experiences continued to mark him. When he was 50, he finally got divorced, gave everything he had to his children and began living on the street.
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The Rootless
‘The Rootless’ is a project about homeless people in Denmark, which is intended to further understanding of the situation of the homeless by focusing on their lives and living conditions through a photo exhibition and the nationwide publishing of a book.
‘The Rootless’ are a group of 30 people who has somehow been pushed out of society either by or without conscious choice and who need more help than that which is provided by the efforts of our society. A large part of the problem is the fact that we do not look the people we are supposed to help in the eye.
Most of us would rather not face the reality we are confronted by through these people. Most of us fail to grasp the relations that take place in the streets and that makes it challenging for us to understand the homeless rather than turning our backs on them. This project tries to diminish the distance between us and homeless people by giving them facial features and telling their stories.
‘The Rootless’ was exhibited in 2010 as an outdoor exhibition in 6 larger cities in Denmark and had its Inaugural exhibition at the art festival Lys over Lolland (Light Over Lolland) same year.
