Hello, I'm Christine Friedman.

I grew up constantly moving; my father was a restless scientist.We lived both in Europe and all around the US. Our family was German​,​ didn’t have much money and was always the “New Family” so we were often the odd ones out. These circumstances have shaped my artwork. I am currently exploring the idea of what being a family meant to me by reinterpreting family photos. What is really behind the images a family chooses to record? What else can be seen beyond the faces caught by surprise or those forced to endure the tedious work of posing? What memories are captured even if the photo developed into closed eyes and cut off foreheads? I work primarily in watercolor and acrylic-often together in the same painting as I work to portray the unseen differences between how a person experiences themselves and how the world sees them. Children are constantly developing in different ways: more mature than their small bodies convey; struggling with their changing bodies while their minds beg to hang on to their innocence. Adults also may be fighting with their need to seem in control while truly being lost or frightened. Everyone is shaped by myriad forces and I am working on depicting the feelings behind the frozen moments captured by Family Photos.