Donna Ferrato has been photographing professionally for more than eighteen years.
Her particular talent lies in exploring worlds rarely seen by the camera with the motto that "nothing is unphotographable". Ferrato has an expertise on the subject of love and family life. While working on a story about a couple in love, the photojournalist saw a man hit his wife. Until then she thought the greatest threat of danger to women came from strangers. Suddenly, her eyes were opened to the darker side of family life. That experience changed her life as a photographer, starting her on what has evolved as a life-long mission to explore and understand the abuse of women and children by the ones they love.

For ten years, she documented domestic abuse by spending time in battered women's shelters, living with couples in their homes, and riding with the police for weeks at a time. In 1991, Aperture published her documentation in a book titled,"Living with the Enemy" , a photo-journey that engages the reader in the dark and often neglected realities of love and family life.

Shortly afterwards, a New York Women's shelter approached her to explore the possibility of mounting a benefit exhibition of her photographs from the book. The exhibition was an immense success, not only in raising badly needed funds for the shelter, but also in educating the public.

Before long, Donna was inundated with similar benefit exhibition requests from shelters around the country. To cope with the demand and to be true to her commitment to expose the horror of abuse and assault within homes, the domestic violence activist formed the non-profit organization Domestic Abuse Awareness, Inc. (DAA) with a mission to expose and help eradicate violence against women and children through awareness, education, and action. The exhibitions have since traveled to over 95 venues, nationally and internationally. They have enabled community groups to raise over $500,000 for battered women's shelters.

Today, Ferrato lectures on domestic violence at universities, hospitals, and shelters. Ferrato has worked worldwide on assignments from Bruce Springsteen to the Gulf War. Her photographs have been published extensively, in publications such as Life, Fortune, The New York Times Magazine, Stern in Germany, DAS and DU magazines in Switzerland. Her domestic violence documentation has won numerous awards, including the W. Eugene Smith Grant, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and the Kodak Crystal Eagle for Courage in Journalism.

Donna Ferrato was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, raised in Lorain, Ohio, and is now based in New York City. She is the mother of a 18-year-old daughter.

REPRESENTED BY:
American Program Bureau
617-965-6600

EDUCATION
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, Sociology and Photography, 1976
Garland College/Simmons College, Boston, MA, Fine Arts, 1968-70
Laurel School for Girls, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1964-68

Living with the Enemy, APERTURE, 1991, Author: Text and Photography
( 4th printing coming out soon)
Honeymoon Killers, A Personal Portfolio, FOTOGRAFIA, 1986
The Future of Children-domestic Violence and children, NATIONAL CLEARING HOUSE,1999
Family Violence - Emerging Programs, NATIONAL CLEARING HOUSE, 1998

Selected Magazine Stories

1999
Das Magazine, June
Du Magazine, April
1998
Violence Lessons, MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE, July/August
Where's Daddy?, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Cover Story, May 4
Mapping Children's Roadway to Violence: The Early Years, NIEMAN REPORTS
1996
Special Populations: Older Battered Women, AGING MAGAZINE, Spring Issue
1994
What's Love Got To Do With It?, MS. MAGAZINE, September/October
Faces of Family Conflict - Children in Domestic Violence, USA TODAY, August
When Violence Hits Home, TIME, July 4
Happily Ever After?, WHO CARES, A Journal of Service and Action, Spring Issue
1993
Why Doesn't She Leave, MIRABELLA, November
Every 15 Seconds, THE DENVER POST Cover story, September 26
Domestic Violence Frighteningly Common, FBQ, Portland, Oregon, Fall Issue
Self Defense or a License to Kill?, PRISON LIFE, May
Battered Woman, THE NEW YORK TIMES, February 28
Fighting Back, Women Who Kill, TIME Cover story, January 18

Selected Lectures

2000
Athens, Greece ( Sponsored by Phillip Morris )
Family Services of Elkhart County, Indiana, Oct 28
Women Supportive Services, New Hampshire Loyola, New Orleans
1999
University of North Carolina at Wilmington, March 24
Denison University, March 23
University of Colorado, Denver, March 8
Indiana State University, March 2
Kentucky State University, November 12
1998
The College of Public at University of South Florida, November 7
University of California, Santa Cruz, October 27
Florida State University, October 22
University of the Pacific, October 7
California State University, Sacramento, October 5
Central Michigan University, September 8
Seton Hall University, April 15
Pennsylvania College of Technology, March 26
University of Missouri at St. Louis, March 12
1997
Anne Arundel Community College, November 4
Indiana University, March 24
Bradley University, March 10
Kansas State University, March 5
New York University, March 3
Junior League of Kalamazoo, Portage, Michigan, January 27
Domestic Abuse Awareness Project, Celebrating Love, NY, NY, May 1996
University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Delaware, October
Stanford Alumni Association, Stanford, California, July 19
Georgia State University, April 30
American Legion Auxiliary, April 1
Western Illinois University, March 20
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 19
New Day Shelter, March 6
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, Wisconsin, March 5

Grants and Awards

1999
- Eisie Award, Life Magazine, Impact Story, Violence Lessons
1998
- Prevention for a Safer Society (PASS) Award, The National Council on Crime and Delinquency
- Humanitarian Award, Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence
1994
- Grassroots Activism Award, Older Women's League (OWL)
1993
- Crystal Eagle Award, Courage in Journalism, International Women's Media Foundation
- Kodak Master of Technique, William A. Reedy Memorial Lecture in Photography
- Patricia C. Phillips Award, Domestic Violence Work
1992
- Most Distinguished Alumni, Laurel School, Shaker Heights, Ohio
1990
- Kodak Crystal Eagle Award, Picture of the Year Competition, Domestic Violence
1988
- Pictures of the Year Competition - First place,"Magazine Picture Story of the Year" and 'Documentary Picture of the Year" categories - Domestic Violence
1987
- Robert F. Kennedy Humanistic Award , First place, Domestic Violence
1985
- W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography, Domestic Violence


Personal Exhibitions

EVE's PLEASURE
Boyer Arts, Portland, Oregon, October 2000

LOVE & LUST, A solo exhibition for the Contact Photo Festival
Toronto, Canada, May 2000

THE WAY HOME: HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA
The Corcoran Museum, Washington D.C., November 1999

60 YEARS OF LIFE: PHOTOGRAPHS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

ALLIANCES: THE FAMILY, An Exhibition by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
Ottawa, Ontario
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario, September - November 1998
Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, British Columbia, August - September 1997
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, February - March 1997
Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, October - November 1996

SO MANY WORLDS, A Photographic Record of Our Time Bratislawa
Prague, January 1997
Theater de Vidy, Lausanne, Switzerland, December 1996
Teatro Communale, Chiasso, Switzerland, October, November 1996
Schaffhausen, Switzerland, September 1996

WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY, An exhibition of photographs by women
New York Public Library, New York City, October - November 1996

ART AND THE LAW, An Exhibition by the West Publishing Corporation Springfield Museum of Art
Springfield, Ohio, January 1996
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada, November 1995
University Gallery, Gainsville, Florida, September 1995
J.R. Thompson Center, Chicago, Illinois, July 1995
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 1995

IN PRAISE OF WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS, A Time Inc. Exhibition Group Show
Rockefeller Center, New York, March 1993