For the Persian poet Mevlana, the devout person who wishes to know God is like a blind man feeling an elephant - depending on where he reaches, he senses something different. Similarly, the reports, portraits, and prose pieces by Angelika Overath dare to venture into the unknown, exploring the exotic terrain of our reality: they tell of foreign homelands, nomadic existences, and fleeting communities, uncovering the secret everyday life of dervishes, an orchestra in the terror-torn streets of Istanbul, or a tiny telling splash of color in a painting by Rubens. They serve as a school of perception and understanding through the means of language, imagination, and empathy.