Marti Friedlander

Leonard Bell, foreword by Kapka Kassabova

‘The qualities of wonder, innocence and exuberance permeate all Friedlander’s images – whether they register the grand sweep of key events in New Zealand’s post-war history or her intimate portraits.’ – Art News

From Māori moko to Dame Whina Cooper and the 1975 Māori land march, from Rita Angus to Norman Kirk, from Israel to Fiji, Marti Friedlander’s photographs have captured the transformation of our lives over the last 50 years. While recording these places, events, and personalities of recent history, Friedlander has brought to her subjects a distinctive eye.

Arriving in New Zealand as a Jewish immigrant from England in 1958, Marti Friedlander has always viewed life through the lens of an outsider. Whether photographing artists and writers or protests and street scenes, her photographs have drawn out key human dynamics – conflict, ambivalence, anger, warmth – by excelling in the photographer’s art. This landmark book is the first sustained examination of Friedlander’s life and work. It is illustrated with almost 200 of her photographs, many published for the first time.

In a world awash with throwaway images, Marti Friedlander’s photographs provide evidence for the value of really seeing, showing how sustained, inquiring and attentive looking by both photographer and viewers can lead us to new truths.

Author

Leonard Bell is professor of Art History at The University of Auckland and the author of Colonial Constructs (AUP) and The Maori in European Art (Reed). His research and writing has been published in New Zealand, Australia, Britain, the USA, Germany and the Czech Republic. He has held fellowships at the National Gallery of American Art, Washington DC, and at the Yale Center for British Art; he was the Daphne Mayo Visiting Professor, University of Queensland in 2005.

Commended, PANZ Book Design Awards: Illustrated Book 2010; shortlisted for New Zealand Post Book Awards: Illustrated Non-Fiction 2010.

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