Contributed by South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA)

Photo by Donna Ferrato

South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) will host a silent auction during the Opening Night Reception for Living With The Enemy: The Exhibition on October 3, 2008, at City Art Gallery. This silent auction will feature exclusive artwork by Donna Ferrato and one signed hard-back, first edition copy of Living With The Enemy, the book published by Aperture in 1991.

Award- winning photographer and photojournalist Donna Ferrato has kindly donated "W. 4th Street Underground Love," 1994 taken from her "Street" series to aid SCCADVASA's fundraising efforts during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2008. "W. 4th Street Underground Love" By Donna Ferrato, 1994 is a limited edition 16" x 20" silver gelatin fiber based photograph print, signed and hand-printed by Donna Ferrato. The piece depicts an intimate moment shared between a young couple seen tenderly embraced while standing on a New York City Subway platform.

Ferrato's generous donation is valued at over $2,700. "This is a very lucky photograph. Much love will come to the lucky person who hangs it in her or his house," Ferrato says.

Living With The Enemy: The Exhibition will be on display at City Art Gallery beginning October 4 through October 11. Admission is free to the general public. Donna Ferrato will attend and speak at the exhibit's opening night reception on October 3. It is a ticketed event taking place from 4:30 pm- 9 pm at City Art Gallery.

Donna Ferrato

Donna Ferrato is a gadfly, an activist, a mother, a provocateur, and foremost, an internationally recognized photojournalist who has created images that have documented and changed the world around her. Ferrato's attention has been consumed with two major projects, domestic violence and human sexual behavior. One might ask what these two seemingly disparate subjects have in common. For Ferrato, they are individual segments in her perpetual pursuit to visually explore and record the most intimate aspects of human behavior. Her images have challenged ignorant attitudes about love and violence promoted by society and brought attention to injustice, changed laws, and provoked people to ponder on behavior that usually remains behind closed doors.

In 1982, while on assignment about the libidos of a rich suburban couple, something occurred that changed Ferrato's path as a photographer. She witnessed a husband beat his wife. Her first instinct was to take a picture. Then she stopped him. She caught his rage on film. This event started Ferrato's mission to stop the cycle of abuse with proof of its terrible toll on society through taking pictures. In 1991, Aperture published her decade- long investigation of families under siege in the book Living with the Enemy.

Sexual Trauma Services depends heavily upon private contributions. If you would like to make a tax- deductible donation, make your check payable to Sexual Trauma Services and mail to 3700 Forest Drive, Suite 350, Columbia, SC 29204.