Friedlander studied Oriental Studies at Churchill College, Cambridge, graduating with a MA degree. A specialist in the Applied Arts, much of her work focuses on the history and culture of German Jews and on the relationship between material culture and identity. Friedlander has worked in museums in New York City, Los Angeles and Berkeley, curating numerous exhibitions and publishing on a variety of Jewish themes.
Selected exhibitions
The Whole Truth – Everything you always wanted to know about Jews, Jewish Museum Berlin, 2013
Tonalities: Jewish women ceramicists from Germany after 1933, Jewish Museum Berlin, 2013
Kosher & Co. – On Food and Religion, Jewish Museum Berlin, 2009
Chrismukka – Stories of Christmas and Hanukka, Jewish Museum Berlin, 2005
10 + 5 = G-d – The Power of Signs and Numbers, Jewish Museum Berlin, 2004
Souvenirs from Israel, 1948-1998, Judah L Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, 1998
Jewish Pictorial Carpets from the Anton Felton Collection, London, Judah L Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, 1997
Forging an identity: The Art of the Yemenite Silversmith, Judah L Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, 1996
“The Iron Shield of David: The First World War and the creation of German Jewish markers of patriotism and memory“ in Gideon Reuveni et al.,, The Jewish Experience of the First World War, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019
Jüdische Allgemeine article, 2018
“Vasen statt Milchflaschen – Eva Samuel, Hedwig Grossmann und Hanna Charag-Zuntz: die Töpferpionierinnen in Palästina, nach 1932“ in exh. cat. Avantgarde für den Alltag, Berlin: Bröhan-Museum, 2013
“The skeptical God-seeker” in R. B. Kitaj - The Retrospective, Cologne: Kerber Verlag, 2012
Kosher & Co. – On Food and Religion, Nicolai Verlag 2009
“Beyond the River - Longing, ambivalence and the Jewish picture of Babylon” in Babylon Mythos und Wahrheit, Pergamonmuseum, Berlin, 2008
“Maccabee® - The branding of a Jewish Hero,” Weihnukka/Chrismukka, Nicolai Verlag, 2005
"10 + 5 = G-d" – The Power of Signs and Numbers Cologne, DuMont Verlag, 2004
"Liturgie in der jüdischen Tradition“ in Petra Werner ed., exh. cat. Jüdische Handschriften. Restaurieren. Bewahren. Präsentieren. Teil 1: Jüdische Kultur im Spiegel der Berliner Sammlung,Berlin: Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 2002
“Women in Jewish Ritual Art” in Carolyn Hessel, ed., Blessed is the Daughter, USA: Schreiber Publishing, Inc., 1999
"Village Jews, The Example of Ichenhausen, München : Haus der Bayer. Geschichte, 1991