Elisabeth Hufnagl © Stefan Fürtbauer für DieZeit

I’m quite proud that a portrait of my reportage for DieZeit “Servus, wie geht’s?” got nominated for the Austrian press photography award “OBJEKTIV Pressefotopreis 2026” in the category environmental portrait.

The portrait of Elisabeth Hufnagl emerged while the author Christian Bartlau (DieZeit), Elisabeth Hufnagl and myself strolled through the courtyard of a large social housing complex in Graz Gries / Triester street, where she opened the so-called Stadtteilzentrum — a place to meet and get helped for all people of that particular hood. There she and her team helps little kids with their homework, elderly with online tasks, people with migration background and a language barrier with bureaucracy and basically anyone in the need of assistance. And if it’s just a coffee and a talk/moan.

That one portrait really means a lot to me, as Elisabeth’s a person who’s standing strong for the poor and disadvantaged and feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders at the same time. She’s got a very strong sense for human needs and rights and fights social injustice in Graz since decades.