“When I was a child, my father would take me to the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam and we’d sketch the elephants together. Observing, looking at animals with attention, was instilled in me from then on. Near the end of his life, when my dad was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, we visited the elephants in Rotterdam one last time. In his pencil drawings from this outing, the elephants appear as abstractions, conveying something direct and genuine, often found in children’s art.” This book is an attempt to give weight and presence to these animals, a contemplation of our often complex relationships with animals and the importance of being able to empathise with other sentient beings.