Ferrato, Donna

American, b.1949

BiographyDonna Ferrato is photojournalist and activist who documents unseen and underrepresented experiences of women. Though her subject matter ranges, she is consistently interested in women taking control of their bodies and lives. In her 1991 book Living with the Enemy, her graphic, intimate photographs of the aftereffects of domestic violence are considered to be some of the first clear visual representations of domestic abuse. Her practice, though she has described it a “invasive” and “extreme”, is rooted in empathy. “My purpose now as a human being is to keep these photographs in the forefront of human consciousness,” she told Zeke Magazine in 2022. “As an activist and a witness.”

Donna Ferrato studied photography at The Art Institute of California, San Francisco in the mid 1970s. She moved to New York City in 1979, where she began photographing the city’s thriving nightclub culture. This landed her an assignment with New York Magazine where she witnessed a harrowing scene of domestic violence. She cites this moment as altering the direction of her work from sheer documentation to intentional social activism. In 2014, she launched the I am Unbeatable campaign, which features women who have left their abusers.

Ferrato has received numerous awards and grants, including the W. Eugene Smith Grant (1985); Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Outstanding Coverage of the Problems of the Disadvantaged (1987); and Tribeca Film Festival Award (2008), to name a few. Her work has been exhibited by Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island; International Center of Photography, New York; Vanderbilt University, Nashville; and many others.