Biography
Born in 1984 in Tyrol and raised in the picturesque Lechtal valley, a region known for its rich artistic tradition. The Lechtal has produced several notable artists, such as Karl Selb, Joseph Anton Koch, Anna Stainer-Knittel (Geierwally) and Josef Anton Schuler, and is renowned for its Lüftlmalerei (traditional mural painting) and woodcarving heritage. Growing up in this environment, Mathias Herbert Wolf was exposed to arts and crafts from an early age—his father was a wood sculptor, his mother a painter working in traditional techniques.
At the age of eight, he began trumpet lessons and attended music school, nurturing an early sensitivity to rhythm, tone, and form. He later explored other instruments such as flugelhorn, baritone horn, trombone, and guitar.
His first encounter with photography came through a neighbor who kept hundreds of slide films in his basement. As a child, he spent countless hours there, fascinated by the glowing images on the screen—an experience that left a lasting impression. He has been drawn to analog photography ever since: to its materiality, its slowness, and the physical act of capturing light on film.
After attending a technical school for construction in Innsbruck starting in 1995, he moved to Graz in 2005 to study civil engineering and law. In 2012, he relocated to Vienna before returning to Graz in 2017, where he completed a program in applied photography. Today, he works primarily with analog 35mm, medium, and large format.
Follow me on Instagram
Follow me on Facebook
Artist Statement
My photographic work is analog—not out of nostalgia, but as an essential part of the concept. The conscious reduction to a slower, material medium allows me to approach photography as true craftsmanship. The moment of capture is physically embedded onto a carrier—real moments on real material. This immediacy helps sharpen my gaze: for the unspectacular, the overlooked, what remains when the noise fades.
I move between street photography, architecture, and landscape—three spheres where the presence of people becomes visible even when they don’t appear in the frame. I am drawn to the quiet tension in urban spaces, the interplay of light and structure, the poetic potential of the everyday.
My series often begin intuitively and develop over long periods of time. I am less concerned with documentary accuracy than with emotional precision. Each photograph is an attempt to hold presence—in the moment, in space, in light.
I work with analog 35mm, medium format, and conceptually with large format. I develop my films by hand, scan or enlarge in the darkroom—depending on the project. For me, analog photography is not about aesthetics alone, but about process: concrete, material, slow. That is where its power lies.
Camera
Nikon F2 & Fm2
Yashica T5
Mamiya 7
Sinar F2
Education
Akademie für angewandte Photographie/Graz
Graz University Of Technology - Civil Engineering
University of Graz - Law
Group exhibitions
FotoMonat Graz, 2024
FotoMonat Graz, 2023
Akademie für angewandte Photographie/Graz, 2021
LensCulture
lensculture.com/mathias-wolf