THE ROOTLESS
SABINA LENNART | AGE 45
Sabina Lennart was born in Greenland, but came to Denmark as a 5-year-old. She lived a chaotic life with her mother and finally ended up in a children’s home. Sabina dreamt of becoming a dental technician, but was never given any support and therefore never received an education.
She had her first child when she was 25 years old and later, she had four more children with a different man, but ended up alone with all the children when the man left her. This, she could not cope with and ended up on the street.
The children grew up in different places with foster families. After five years, Sabina got a flat, but she cannot stand being there. Therefore, she often sleeps in the shelters around the city.
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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.
