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| Matakana Pictures Exhibitions Artists | M A R T I F R I E D L A N D E R is widely recognised as one of New Zealand’s senior artists. Over a period of forty years she has worked on many self-directed and self-initiated projects that have subsequently gained her a significant reputation. She was the first camera artist to independently document the changing nature of contemporary post-war New Zealand as seen in the protest movement, the women’s movement, Maori society, the changed role of men in New Zealand, and in Pacific Island society. She was also the first photographer to celebrate the extent to which visual, performing and literary creativity contributes to New Zealand. Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th century (with Michael King) has been continuously in print since it was first published in 1972 and is arguably one of the most important photo essays produced in post-war New Zealand. Larks in a Paradise: New Zealand Portraits (1974, with James McNeish) had a seminal effect on how photographers looked at what contemporary life meant for the people who live in New Zealand. Friedlander has seen her adopted country from within her personal experience of diaspora. As a Jewish artist this knowledge has also been informed by her insight and intuition about the way New Zealand has established a more complex and compelling identity within two generations. |
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Marti Friedlander 1 The girl on beach at Kouatuna, 1967 |
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Marti Friedlander 2 The boys at Whites Beach, 1967 |
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