Based in Kamrup (Metropolitan) district of Assam, a state located in the Northeast of India, my study assesses roles and interconnections between structural factors and individual agency in domestic violence – focusing on heterosexual marital relationships. Broadly informed by the philosophy of critical realism, this study applies qualitative and visual methods to interact with women who have faced marital violence, and with members of the civil society, to explore factors spanning the individual, the interactional and at the institutional levels.