A Room for an Elephant is inspired by a parable written by 13th century Persian philosopher and poet Rumi, ‘An Elephant in the Dark’. ‘It is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and conceptualize what the elephant is like by touching it. Each blind man feels a different part of the elephant’s body, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then describe the elephant based on their limited experience and their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant).
They cannot fathom each other’s perspectives or what an elephant is, thus they take to bickering and proving that they and they alone are right.
The room is thought of as the object and place where Rumi’s story can unfold. It envelops the Elephant like a piece of clothing, is therefore physically connected to its body, and can travel around together with it. The inhabitable shell is a fabric woven in wicker, and its surface is permeable for air and light. 
