Between Hope and Dystopia by Maximilian Mann

Globally, the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record. In Germany, temperatures have risen more than the worldwide average, and according to the German Weather Service, the period from 2011 to 2020 was approximately two degrees Celsius warmer than the years from 1881 to 1910. As a leading car nation, Germany has a problem: it must become climate-neutral by 2045. It is a race against time and economic interests, political ideologies and potential solutions are being debated at an increasingly heated level. My photographic essay describes a journey through Germany, focusing on a country at the centre of an ecological and social transformation. The photographs portray a land caught between hope and dystopia, exploring the question: can one make the invisible aspects of the climate crisis visible?