THE ROOTLESS
JOHN THOMSEN | AGE 39
John Thomsen was born and raised in Frederikshavn. After 9th grade, he began training to become a skilled iron and steel worker, but he was bullied and began smoking hashish and taking drugs to forget. After that, he got by dealing drugs to fund his own use. He lived with friends, acquaintances and on the street.
John has now decided he wants his life back on track and has for the last two years lived in the reception centre Svenstrupgård in Aalborg.
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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.
