THE ROOTLESS
PALLE LARSEN | AGE 49
Palle Larsen was born and raised in Copenhagen.
When he was 14 years old, Palle’s parents got divorced. He did not want to choose which of the parents to live with, so instead he left home and went to live with friends and in shelters.
Palle has been an alcoholic for many years, but was trained as radio mechanic and sailed with EAC. In 2000, he served a prison sentence and after he was release, he lived on the street for six and a half years. Although he now lives in subsidised housing in Valby, he often returns to the street environment and stay overnight.
Palle died in 2012.
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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.
