The photographic representation of distant lifeworlds usually also entails a visual formulation of “the other”. In the process, countless photographic images of the other and the self are created, which repeatedly harden the demarcation towards “the others” and confirm one’s own prejudices. In this field of tension of foreign and self-identification through photography, Vera Brandner’s works can be read as a reflexive confrontation and visual response. She portrays people in Angola, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine, pursuing a dialogic-communicative image strategy: the people in front of the camera allow themselves to be photographed, pose in front of the camera as they see fit in front of a foreign photographer, very often looking directly into the camera and throwing the photographer’s gaze back into the camera and thus at the viewer.