JESPER ANDERSEN | AGE 19

Jesper Andersen was born in Odense. His childhood was marked by his parents’ alcoholism and that he practically took care of himself from the age of six. When he was 13, he was placed into a foster family after his parents’ divorce and his mothers death.

He did not finish school and also dropped out of production school. For a short while, Jesper lived with his brother, but after that he lived on the streets. He found ‘Gaderummet’, a group home and drop-in centre in Copenhagen, where he has lived for a year and a half. (The place has now closed).

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.

AMANDA OLINE ROSENDAHL | AGE 14

Amanda Oline Rosendahl was born in Copenhagen, but moved to Langeland when she was five years old with her mother and her new husband.

She was often home alone because her mother was working in a pub. Because Amanda’s father was manic-depressive, she could not live with him and therefore moved to Odense with her father’s girlfriend. She dropped out of school because her everyday life and not having enough money to live on had become too much for her.

Amanda has returned to Copenhagen and lives in different places around the city. At the time being, in a tent in the park ‘The Blue Garden’ in Åboulevarden in Copenhagen. Here, she feels free and there is nothing to tie her down.

FINN MAJLUND | AGE 43

Finn Majlund was born and raised in Frederikshavn.
At the age of 12, he asked to be sent to a children’s home because his mother beat him. He needed safety after having lived alone with her for a few years after his parents’ divorce. Later, his father died of cancer and his mother of a cerebral haemorrhage.

Finn began drinking in earnest as a 14-year-old and after finishing school, he tried to survive with different jobs. After four years in the army and a turn in prison for robbery, he became a trained floor fitter in 1989. He travelled to Norway, but instead he got a job in a carnival and returned to Denmark as a vagabond.
Today, Finn is living as an alcoholic on the streets of Odense.

SØREN PEDERSEN | AGE 59

Søren Pedersen grew up in a family of artists on Bornholm. When he was 19 years old, he went to Paris where he met a music group which he became manager for. Later, he travelled around the world as a dock worker, cook and waiter. He found a girlfriend and had two children in the early ’70s. The couple later split. Søren was never good with money and spends more than he earns. Therefore, he was not able to pay his rent one day and ended up on the street.

PATRICK ZIMMERMANN | 22 YEARS

Patrick Zimmerman was born in Ishøj and became a painter in 2004. There were problems at home and his parents threw him out when they believed he was old enough to take care of himself. Patrick lived with different friends and later in a reception centre, where he lived for a year and found a girlfriend. He now lives in Kirkens Korshær’s shelter in Hillerødgade in Copenhagen, is an hashish addict and finds it difficult to get on with his life.

GRETHE LARSEN | AGE 61

Grethe Larsen grew up in Vejle and after her confirmation, she work in an artist group that travelled around Europe. When she was 18, she fell head over heels in love with a man with whom she had two sons and they were married for 13 years before she found out that her husband betrayed her.

They were divorced and Grethe got a job in a sewing factory, where she sustained a bad work injury. Later, her house burned down, she became homeless and went to Copenhagen, where she lives in a women’s shelter in Hvidovre.

MARIA THOMASSEN | AGE 36

Maria Thomassen grew up on Vesterbro in Copenhagen. She lived alone with her mother, who was an alcoholic, and Maria started smoking marihuanna as a 13-year-old. She was sent to boarding school in West Jutland, got a degree in office administration and after that, she got a flat. But she got bored, returned to Copenhagen and became a drug addict at the age of 21. She met Lee, with whom she found peace and a kind of safety.

In 1998, she was diagnosed HIV-positive, and lived on the streets of Copenhagen with her belongings in two baby carriages until 2009, when she got her own flat.