13 Facts About Marti Friedlander

Martha Friedlander was a British-New Zealand photographer.

Marti Friedlander 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.

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

Marti Friedlander was born on 19 February 1928 in the East End of London to Jewish immigrants from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Marti Friedlander won a scholarship at the age of 14 and attended Camberwell School of Art, where she studied photography.

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

Marti Friedlander felt constrained by what she saw as New Zealand's conservatism compared to the lifestyle she had enjoyed in London, and she began taking photographs to document and understand the country and people around her.

Marti Friedlander 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.

Marti 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.

Marti Friedlander's work was published in books, magazines and newspapers such as Wine Review, New Zealand Listener and the British Journal of Photography.

In 2013, Marti Friedlander published an autobiography, Self-Portrait, written with oral historian Hugo Manson.

Marti Friedlander was a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Marti Friedlander died at her home in Auckland on 14 November 2016 aged 88.