Julian Manjahi, a photographer and AI artist, was flattered to find himself being courted by an international gallery owner.
His images of east African sail ships were lauded by Maria Mayer, an Argentinian art dealer, who pledged to showcase them at a major international venue.
In the summer of 2021 his work went on display at Ocean Terminal, an Edinburgh shopping mall which hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards — that brought Beyoncé, Jay Z and the Hollywood star Vin Diesel to the Scottish capital in 2003.
A year later Mayer, the softly spoken proprietor of Slovenia’s Art Gallery 5’14, returned to the city for a second exhibition and invited Manjahi to join her judging panel.
Shortly after, “Maria” was unmasked as Anna Dultseva —