American photographer Donna Ferrato is possessed with a candor you rarely find, a willingness to traverse the most delicate, vulnerable parts of life and do so with extraordinary courage and sensitivity. Long before the mainstream media was paying attention to the issues facing women’s lives, Ferrato was fully attuned to the extraordinary importance of bearing witness.
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In her new book Holy (powerHouse Books), Ferrato traverses a lifetime behind the lens documenting the lives of women from all walks of life. Fearlessly confronting once taboo issues like sexual assault, domestic violence, and sex work, Ferrato recognizes photography as a tool to speak truth to power and testify to not only the tragedies and traumas befalling women but the victories that achieve against the odds.
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Holy began in 2017 after the U.S. Presidential election left Ferrato feeling enraged. “I was a bear whose paw was caught in a steel trap. I was howling, I was angry, I was furious that that man had been voted in. I knew what was going to happen because we all knew [what he would do]: shutting down Planned Parenthood, women’s health clinics, telling trans people they could not serve in the military and get the health care they needed, taking children away from families at the border — just taking away all of our rights,” she says.
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“I couldn’t tolerate it anymore. I was responding like a desperate animal when I first started this book. If you could see he first iteration where I was in a white-hot rage you would understand that I didn’t know where I was going. I’m so flawed. I make so many mistakes. I am driven by my emotions and my impulses, and I’m changing my mind all the time. I’d look at the book and it wasn’t good enough.”
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When COVID hit, Ferrato found herself alone. Without distraction, she delved into her past, asking herself, “Where were the cracks in your upbringing that lead you to be such a firebrand?” Here, Ferrato shares a few stories from her extraordinary path.
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