Every human being on Earth is connected by six degrees of separation. This idea was first articulated in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy. New opportunities for communication and travel brought the world closer; suddenly, it wasn’t all that unusual to have acquaintances around the globe. Karinthy wrote about how a connection could be established to a stranger anywhere on the planet through a maximum of six degrees of separation, i.e. a chain of six consecutive friendship links connecting people. This idea of ​​chains of friends forms the basis for the photography project Six Degrees of Copenhagen.

Jens Juul approached people he happened to meet on the street. These chance encounters resulted in very personal photographs. At the end of each session, his subjects sent the photographer to the next person in their network. Juul took the portraits of these acquaintances, who in turn gave him the name of another person. Thus, each of the people portrayed in Six Degrees of Copenhagen is part of a single chain of friends.