Marti Friedlander, New Zealand photographer, Died at 88

  Artists

Marti Friedlander was born in 1928, and died on November 14, 2016.

She was a New Zealand photographer.

Marti was born in the East End of London

Ger parents were Russian Jewish immigrants, from the age of three she was raised in orphanages together with her sister Anne.

Friedlander married Gerrard Friedlander, a New Zealander of German Jewish origin, in 1957 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1958.

Whilst in New Zealand, she worked as a nurse for her husband who worked as a dentist. After she lost their first child in 1963 she was inspired to take photos of other children.

She thought of herself as an outsider she found herself in a strange land, and began taking photographs to document and understand the country she had adopted.

She felt constrained by what she saw as New Zealand’s conservatism compared to the lifestyle she had enjoyed, and documented and challenged this in her photography and social activism.

Marti work involved collaboration with Michael King while photographing Maori women and moko.

Friedlander has had exhibitions at a number of galleries.

Friedlander was admitted as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998, and was the subject of a documentary by Shirley Horrocks entitled Marti: the Passionate Eye.

Marti Friedlander was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature by the University of Auckland in 2016.[4]

During October 2016, she revealed that she was suffering from late-stage breast cancer.

Marti died at her home in Auckland.

Marti Friedlander passed away at 88 years old.