Marti Friedlander

Martha Friedlander (; 19 February 1928 – 14 November 2016) was a British-New Zealand photographer. She emigrated to New Zealand in 1958, where she was known for photographing and documenting New Zealand's people, places and events, and was considered one of the country's leading photographers.

Friedlander's work is held in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Early life, education and move to New Zealand Friedlander was born on 19 February 1928 in the East End of London to Jewish immigrants from Kyiv, Ukraine. From the age of three she grew up in a Jewish orphanage in London with her sister Anne. She won a scholarship at the age of 14 and attended Camberwell School of Art, where she studied photography. From 1946 to 1957 she worked as an assistant to fashion photographers Douglas Glass, an expatriate New Zealander, and Gordon Crocker.

Career She married Gerrard Friedlander, a New Zealander of German Jewish origin, in 1957 and emigrated to New Zealand with him in 1958. She became a naturalised New Zealander in 1977. The photograph was later purchased by the BBC and used in a television series on rugby. She joined the Titirangi Camera Club, and was encouraged by photographers Olaf Petersen, Steve Rumsey and Des Dubbelt, editor of the magazine Playdate, to pursue photography as a career, which she began to do in 1964. In 1969, she photographed Prime Minister Norman Kirk. In 1972 her work became well known through her collaboration with social historian Michael King, photographing Maori women and their traditional moko tattoos. Friedlander considered this project the highlight of her career, and in 2010 she donated the series of 47 portraits to the national museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Friedlander's photography career lasted over 40 years, during which time she photographed a diverse range of subjects, including famous and ordinary people, and rural and urban landscapes. Her work was published in books, magazines and newspapers such as Wine Review, New Zealand Listener and the British Journal of Photography. In 2001, a retrospective exhibition of 150 of her photographs from 1957 to 1986 was held at the Auckland Art Gallery, followed by a tour of New Zealand galleries. In 2004, she was the subject of a documentary by Shirley Horrocks entitled Marti: the Passionate Eye. In 2007, the Arts Foundation of New Zealand launched the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award, presented every two years to an experienced photographer. In 2013, Friedlander published an autobiography, Self-Portrait, written with oral historian Hugo Manson.

Personal life Friedlander was a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Legacy In 2018, Friedlander's photographic archive held at the E H McCormick Research Library of the Auckland Art Gallery was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Ngā Mahara o te Ao register.

Publications Photography Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th Century (1972) with Michael King Larks in a Paradise (1974) with James McNeish Contemporary New Zealand Painters A–M (1980) with Jim and Mary Barr Pioneers of New Zealand Wine (2002) with Dick Scott Marti Friedlander: Photographs (2001) with Ron Brownson Marti Friedlander with Leonard Bell (2009) 2001: Marti Friedlander: Photographs was shortlisted at the Montana Book Awards Stark White Queenstown, 2024

Collections Friedlander's work is held in the following permanent collections: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, New Zealand: numerous prints Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington: 71 prints