Kuia Mau Moko: Photographs by Marti Friedlander
The last generation of Māori women to receive the unbroken tradition of female tattooing. Host this touring exhibition at your venue.
The Moko Suite: The photographs of Marti Friedlander (1928–2016)
Marti Friedlander photographed the people of New Zealand from the 1960s up until the present. By bringing an immigrant’s perspective on her adopted country she showed New Zealanders to themselves.
She is particularly renowned for her portraits of artists in the 1960s and 1970s, and for her images of the last Māori women to have received the chin moko in a customary manner.
The photographs were taken in the late 1960s and early 1970s for use in historian Michael King’s book Moko: Māori tattooing in the 20th century – a time when it was believed the sun had set on this ancient tradition.
The photographs tell a story of resilience, loss, and sorrow for a way of life that was fast slipping away. Within two decades though, moko kauae would begin a quiet revival. Today hundreds of Māori women proudly bear the moko of their ancestors – connecting the past with the present.
The photos were gifted to Te Papa in 2009 from the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust.
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Remembering Marti Friedlander
It is with sadness that we at Te Papa learned photographer Marti Friedlander passed away in Auckland on Monday 15 November.