The publication of my article “When Carbon Copies fade” on 10th March 2020 has led to a number of investigations regarding the questioned work by the photographer Maximilian Mann. As some of these investigations by institutional actors of the industry go into a decisive phase, Mann’s collective Docks has published an undated text titled “When plagiarism accusations fade”. It aggressively addresses my research and writing, and was brought to my attention by the evening of 6th April 2020. Docks collective’s undated text has a speculative nature and presents the unnamed author’s assumptions as facts upon which it aggressively concludes. It …

Upon the publication of the article “When Carbon Copies fade” on this blog, Maximilian Mann, the photographer whose project is questioned there, provided a statement which was published in the previous posting. That followed quickly, but remains unsatisfactory and unconvincing. A rebuttal by Kaveh Rostamkhani.

There was something uncannily familiar about a series among the recently announced nominees of the 2020 World Press Photo foundation’s annual industry flagship photo contest. Nominated in the environment category, “Fading Flamingos” of the German photographer Maximilian Mann is a set of carefully framed images with a brilliant aesthetic quality and a pastel hue addressing the issue of Lake Urmia. Browsing through it, not just the subject, but down to individual photographs it felt like a déjà vu. It wasn’t to get hold of, until a couple of days later the Iranian photographer Solmaz Daryani came up and shared her concerns …