--- title: Donna Ferrato Work Captures Reality of Domestic Violence description: Photographer Donna Ferrato's "Behind Closed Doors" sparked conversations on domestic violence and is one of Time's most influential photos. canonical: https://time.com/4575229/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence-photo/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-17T20:43:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:54.434Z og:title: This Photograph Put a Face on the Epidemic of Domestic Violence og:description: And it’s one of TIME’s most influential photos of all time og:url: https://time.com/4575229/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc11d95e6e2f0f9b5/6988aef15f570f76ecb23538/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3732 og:image:height: 2099 og:image:alt: donna-ferrato-domestic-violence og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Photograph Put a Face on the Epidemic of Domestic Violence twitter:description: And it’s one of TIME’s most influential photos of all time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc11d95e6e2f0f9b5/6988aef15f570f76ecb23538/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Photograph Put a Face on the Epidemic of Domestic Violence > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=456fc9ba-92d0-478a-b25e-047ed4676a9f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 100 Photographs: A Portrait of Domestic Violence [Watch (HLS stream): 100 Photographs: A Portrait of Domestic Violence](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DuwGVoV2.m3u8) (11:48)  _Published 2016-06-01. The first published photo to record an act of domestic violence unfolding, Donna Ferrato’s shocking picture brought the issue of spousal abuse out of the shadows_  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Nov 17, 2016 8:43 PM UTC  Donna Ferrato  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Nov 17, 2016 8:43 PM UTC Photographer [Donna Ferrato](http://time.com/4353529/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence/) helped bring awareness to the epidemic of domestic violence in the United States through her raw and often graphic portraits of survivors of violence. But she fell into the work by accident after witnessing domestic violence firsthand. [“Behind Closed Doors,”](http://100photos.time.com/photos/donna-ferrato-behind-closed-doors) one of TIME’s [Most Influential Photographs of All Time](http://100photos.time.com/photos/donna-ferrato-behind-closed-doors), focused on a couple — then known under pseudonyms “Garth” and “Lisa,” but whose real names were [revealed in a TIME Red Border Film to](http://time.com/4353529/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence/) [be Bengt and Elisabeth](http://time.com/4353529/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence/) — who Ferrato had become friendly with during a photo project on swingers. At one point, Ferrato encouraged Lisa to wean herself off cocaine. But when Lisa hid the cocaine from Garth, he became violent with her. “In the middle of the night, I could hear Elisabeth screaming bloody murder. I grabbed my camera and ran down the hall to see what was going on. When I went in, I saw him picking his hand up to hit hit. And I thought, if I take a picture, it will make him stop,” Ferrato [told TIME in June](http://time.com/4353529/donna-ferrato-domestic-violence/). “This is a cautionary note for photographers who try to interfere in people’s lives. You don’t know what people are going to do. I didn’t know what was going to happen.” **_Read More:_** [_The 100 Most Influential Photographs of All Time_](http://100photos.time.com/) The incident inspired Ferrato’s life work: showcasing the reality of violence that many women face on a daily basis. Her work appeared in TIME and other publications, and she published a book, [_Living With the Enemy_](https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Ferrato-Living-Enemy/dp/0893814806?tag=timecom-20), of photographs on the issue in 1991\. Just three years later, Congress passed [the Violence Against Women Act](https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/vawa%5Ffactsheet.pdf), which was designed to improve the prosecution of individuals who committed acts of violence against women. Of course, much progress still needs to be done on the issue. According to [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/), 20 women and men will be abused by an intimate parter per minute in the United States. And the issue reentered the public eye as a number of [professional athletes have been publicly accused of domestic violence in the past few years](http://time.com/3614432/nfl-domestic-violence-congress-troy-vincent/). “I would say that being in the bathroom and photographing had an enormous impact on my mind, as well as my career. I don’t think I would have become such a serious — and, at times, angry — photojournalist,” Ferrato told TIME in June. “Allowing me to take these pictures has helped explode the myths around domestic violence and show that if any woman is being beaten in her home, that’s an affront to all of us.” Read more about Ferrato [here](http://100photos.time.com/photos/donna-ferrato-behind-closed-doors), and watch the full video above. ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:13] [ MUSIC ] As a photographer I want to know people as [00:17] a member of their own family might. [ UNKNOWN ] [00:21] I want to know with the truth about people. But [00:26] I'll never expected what I saw. [ MUSIC ] [00:37] I got my very first documentary assignment from [00:41] Japanese Playboy to do a story on wealthy, successful [00:45] couples who are into swinging. Back in 1980 there was [00:49] a phenomenon going on in New York City and Plato's [00:53] Retreat was a club for married couples To go to swing. [00:56] [ MUSIC ] [01:02] But the one couple that really stood out for me, they [01:05] were originally from Sweden, seemed very wealthy. [01:08] Happy, successful, very attached to each other. They [01:13] also did their swinging lifestyle in their home, in a very [01:17] beautiful home, and so I wanted to tell their story. [01:24] Donna was so easy to have around. She was so free [01:29] and elfin. She just fit right in, she talk to anybody. [01:35] Everybody loved her, so she spend a lot of time [01:40] with us together. And we became friends I [01:44] would usually go to visit Elizabeth and Bank whenever [01:48] they were having parties, and I'd spend maybe three [01:51] or four days at a time. Back in the early 80s, it [01:55] was a very different era. Cocaine [01:59] wasn't something that people feared at all. And [02:04] even the police would come to the house and they [02:06] would stay and have a cocktail. They saw what was [02:09] going on, nobody cared about it. But [02:14] I, Started to see signs that were troubling to me. As [02:19] the months went by, I got a call from Elizabeth, and [02:23] she was desperate. And she said, Donna, I'm really [02:26] afraid of [ UNKNOWN ]. He's got a . 357 magnum, he [02:30] doing all kinds of things that make me feel like I'm [02:33] going crazy. can you come to the house. When [02:37] they met me at the door I could see things were really [02:39] bad. That they had both lost a lot of weight. And as [02:43] soon as I could I pulled Elizabeth aside and I said [02:46] Elizabeth you have to stop using cocaine. This is what's [02:50] killing your marriage. This is a cautionary note [02:55] to photographers who try to interfere with people's [02:57] lives. You don't know what people [03:01] are gonna do. I didn't know what was gonna happen. [03:04] She went and hid the cocaine, but she thought that she [03:08] could get away with that. And he went crazy. [ MUSIC ] [03:19] I was sleeping down the hallway, and in the middle [03:23] of the night I could hear Elizabeth screaming bloody [03:27] murder. So I grabbed my camera [03:31] and went running down to see what was going on. [03:35] When I went in, I saw him picking his hand up to [03:39] hit her. And I'm thinking, if I take a picture, it'll make [03:43] him stop. [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] I [03:49] could see my face in the mirrors as I'm taking the [03:52] picture. [ MUSIC ] [03:56] I remember that moment even though he saw her. [04:01] [ MUSIC ] [04:04] He didn't care. When he went to hit her again I [04:08] grabbed his arm and I said what the hell are you [04:10] doing? You're gonna hurt her. And he just threw me off [04:13] like I was a bug. And he said look it, she's my wife. [04:15] And I'm gonna teach her that she can't lie to me. [04:22] Everything was happening so fast. And he continued to [04:26] berate her, to pull things out of the cabinets, to treat [04:29] her like she was just a little toy. I [04:34] seen him like that many times, and I just know that I [04:38] cannot act or do anything, I just had to be very calm. [04:42] I was so scared. [04:47] This was something I was unprepared for. But I had a [04:50] camera, so I knew I had to tell the real story of what [04:54] was happening. She [04:58] was on her knees crying. And I said, please Elizabeth, [05:01] look at me and tell me what's going on. And she said, [05:04] you know, I always thought my husband loved me. But [05:07] tonight he beat me like he's never even touched our [05:09] dog. And I don't think I can believe in his love [05:13] anymore. She laid down on the bed, and [05:18] began to talk to him. And I said, that's it. The next [05:23] morning I got up and got out of that house as fast as I [05:26] could. [ MUSIC ] I [05:31] hid that roll of film in a drawer. For those four months I [05:35] was in total denial. [ MUSIC ] [05:43] After this incident, everything just got worse [05:48] and worse. And he was just laying there down in the [05:51] basement freebasing cocaine So I hide the [05:56] pipe again. And this [06:00] time he was furious and my [06:05] son called the police and said my dad is [06:10] beating the **** out of my mom. [ MUSIC ] A [06:19] few months later, I started to worry and I was [06:23] wondering what's going on. And so I called the house [06:26] and that's when he said to me, well she's not really [06:30] okay, you see? I've had to put her into a detox for [06:32] drugs and alcohol. And I said, well what about you? [06:36] You do a lot of drugs and he said, no, no, no, I've got it [06:40] under control. She has the problems. At [06:45] the detox center, there she was with a fresh black eye [06:49] then I saw him put his arm around her so lovingly and [06:52] he is pretending and like, yes my wife, I adore her. [06:57] And that's when the lightbulb went on for me. And I [07:00] said, my God no, this is ongoing. [07:09] [ MUSIC ] After I would come back to the house, he [07:13] would just beat me up. [ MUSIC ] [07:19] I was really, really frightened, and I called the police, [07:24] and I said, yes please come over and help me one [07:27] more time to take all my belonging and leave. And [07:32] That was the toughest [07:37] thing I have done because I could just take my [07:41] little Charlotte, I was four years old. I [07:45] was out on the street with nothing. [ MUSIC ] [07:54] She left him and she started the long process of [07:57] healing. At [08:04] the time, there were no stories about domestic [08:08] violence in the news. It was really hard for me to [08:12] breakthrough the media wall and publish these [08:14] pictures. John Leongard looked at them and he [08:19] said, you have done the impossible. I didn't even think [08:22] domestic violence was photographable. But [08:27] still Nobody would publish these pictures. From [08:31] that point on, I decided that I was just gonna do a [08:35] book. I didn't care how long it was gonna take me. I [08:37] was gonna show everybody how bad it was. [ MUSIC ] [08:43] I wanted to see the reality of violence against women [08:46] and And children. [ MUSIC ] [08:56] People were hungry for it and it catapulted this whole [09:00] issue. At one point, when this whole thing was going [09:04] on with OJ Simpson. Time Magazine took [09:08] my picture of Rita with the two black eyes. They put [09:12] her on the cover and then they published the whole [09:16] edition including pictures from the bathroom. This was [09:20] huge. It was now being accepted in mainstream media [09:25] and that was a big deal. [ MUSIC ] [09:44] And I've been documenting violence against women 32 [09:47] years. I would say that being in the bathroom [09:51] and photographing had an enormous impact on my [09:56] mind, as well as my career. I dont think I would've [09:58] become such a Serious and at times [10:04] angry photojournalist. Elizabeth [10:11] is like the ultimate success story. She remade [10:15] her life. She's proud of what she accomplished for [10:18] battered women. [ MUSIC ] [10:22] Allowing me to take these pictures has helped explode [10:27] the myths around domestic violence and to [10:31] show if any woman is being beaten in her home, that's [10:34] an affront to all of us. [ MUSIC ] [10:39] You became a friend in the family. Mm- hm. And you [10:45] knew everything I've been doing and I have never hide [10:48] anything from you. Now that you're really ready to [10:52] do this. Yes I couldn't be more happy [10:57] I mean I'm excited for what's gonna happen when [11:00] people really have a chance to hear your story. I'm [11:06] ready to tell the story it's the right time. For [11:12] me seeing where I was at the time and to [11:16] where I am Today, I [11:20] have a lot to be proud of. 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