Customer Reviews

Donna Ferrato: Love And Lust

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In perusing the remarkable new book of photographs,"Love and Lust", I was reminded of two great literary artists. Thoreau and Whitman. When Whitman wrote his poem " Beginners" he was thinking of such creators. " How dear and dreadful they are to the earth." Thoreau in one of his little known journal passages mused on what it would be like for groups of young people to make love in the open fields.It would be a beautiful and natural sight, he thought.This creative approach to sensuality is typical of great minds. Such forerunners, " Shake things up" and move humanity forward.Donna is well known for her book on domestic violence " Living With The Enemy" She is fully as candid in her depiction of the largeness of our emotions in the areas of love and sexuality as she has been in the world of violence and abuse."Love and Lust" chronicles over twenty years of her photographic studies of sensuality and affection.She moves from the center of family life,as Nell Dorr did, into the greater world.It is a paradox that we humans are often more afraid to explore our love feelings than our violence.Donna dedicates her book to " The 'Bonobo monkeys'they have something to teach the more advanced primates about "Making love, not war" The poetic eye of this photographer caresses ,with childlike candor, the objects chosen for attention.Her vision has the variety of a kaleidoscopic circus dream of Ray Bradbury. There is much shock value as well.The book is not for the squeamish. The Bizarre is shown beside the everyday.She juxtaposes gay and straight young and old, nuns and ghetto people, swingers,rich, poor and middle class.All those playing at the myriad games of sex.This is an all encompassing vision.In so many ways we reach out for the love and pleasure we seek. Often it appears in forms we might never have expected, but those forms may prove non-the-less valid.Study this book carefully. It is a work of art even to the binding, which has the feel of pliant skin. "He who touches this book , touches a man.." Whitman said of "Leaves of Grass" We are touched by an incredibly honest woman,in this book.Her art and bravery deserve laurels.

Long awaited, this provocative monograph -- Ferrato's second book from Aperture -- presents an exploration of love in all of its physical manifestations. Her optimistic and penetrating gaze finds love in all the right (and gorgeously wrong) places -- "from puppy love to orgasm, from a peck on the cheek between friends to sexual role-playing to S&M." Her physical proximity to the subjects creates a genuine feeling of intimacy, which permeates her entire body of work and highlights love's common experience across conflicting social mores. Throughout -- whether violent, broken, transgressive, base, ephemeral, elated, quotidian, or eternal -- love is present, and Ferrato sees in it, beauty. Without moralizing or patronizing, Ferrato successfully reveals love, in its varied manifestations, as something shared and familiar, ever in motion and ever reborn.

I am no stranger to the erotic photography book market. I tend to favor fine-art titles, so this book is off-key to my mainstream collection. It takes a very special book to move me into the 4 or 5 star range. If you are looking for outstanding photography, creative composition, stunning models in stunning places - this is not your book. This is journalistic style photography. If you are looking for a diverse collection of photos exploring the open lifestyle, you will enjoy it.

I would say 80% of the photos are in black and white.
This is not a large format book. And some of the photos are not full page. Some of the 4" x 6" photos I would have liked to have seen larger. There are about 19 pages of narrative at the beginning of the book, documenting the author's 30 year's of exploits as a photographer.

All in all, I would say looking at the book is like peeking over your wild neighbor's fence and through their windows. It's worth a look, but I don't see myself coming back to revisit this book time and time again. If you want a book that "proves" ordinary people do some wild and crazy stuff, you found it.