Actually
The Morning Visitor (Il visitatore del mattino)
I have selected the painting “The Morning Visitor” (Il visitatore del mattino) by the artist Dino Buzzati for my next curatorial response. I chose this painting to accent the play “Actually” by the Anna Ziegler as both deal with the concept of rape and SA. “The Morning Visitor” was painted back in 1963 and what seems to depict a naked woman living in her home. The woman is in bed and the next box depicts a spikey figure. The woman is then cleaning her house, then figure sneaks up on her and essentially disfigures her and wears her skin. The piece tends to be looked at as a display of rape, SA and how the woman is not even safe in their own home. This piece is also controversial as people started to turn this piece into a joke talking about how minor inconveniences make them feel like how the woman in the painting is getting treated. The reason that I choose this piece in relation to “Actually” because I feel like they complement each other. While in the play, the whole case of the rape and sexual assault feels like a grey area which makes us uncomfortable, while viewing the painting we are supposed to feel uncomfortable and disgusted by the actions that are happening in the complete opposite way. For the play we are uncomfortable because of how human both parties are and how the situation ended up how it did, and, in the painting, we are disturbed by the cruelty and intention of the actions that the thing commits. The perpetrator is supposed to feel foreign and inhumane as the act itself should not be taken lightly which is done perfectly with the monstruous figure. I chose to put these two pieces together because there is an argument about the “severity” of SA and rape that people always try to bring into question but the effects of both don’t waver based on what is left of the victim when in actuality the cases should be viewed in the same light. So, by putting these two together we can see the endings of these two people and understand that both parties in the play and the woman in the painting were assaulted. In the play also they talk about Amber and how she was shirtless being a talking point and in the painting the woman is naked even while in her home which could be a point of judgement.
Girl With One Eye by Florence + The Machine
-
![]()
"I took a knife and cut out her eye I took it home and watched it wither and die"
-
![]()
"But now she sleeps with one eye open But that's the price she'll pay"
-
![]()
"I slipped my hand under her skirt I said, "Don't worry, oh, it's not gonna hurt"
-
![]()
"You made me cry"
"Get Your Filthy Fingers Out Of My Pie"
"Get Your Filthy Fingers Out Of My Pie"
I chose “Girl With One Eye” by Florence + the Machine for this play because the themes of both talk or include the theme of assault and consent. Girl With One Eye is written in the point of view of a man who is belittling and sexually harassing a woman. It’s interesting because Florence who is a cis woman is the one singing it acting like the man, which adds a layer to it that makes it so powerful. It could be that she’s telling the story of her experience but also could be that she is talking about a story of someone else. Either way it shows the culture in which fem people find themselves in and how the men see and treat women. The lyrics, “But now she sleeps with one eye open, but that's the price she'll pay” directly insinuate that the man knows the fear that he is fostering. Knowing that she’ll have to deal with the consequences of his actions and not him is the price he’s willing for her to pay. It also shows the culture that the man finds himself in because he doesn’t feel fear to treat the woman as a object and to openly harass her. I chose this song cause of the idea of consent in both the play and the song. There is an idea about consent that is always lost or maybe even ignored which is that consent could be taken away at any time, and that if someone is under the influence consent sometimes couldn’t be given in the first place. The song has a almost rage that exists in the song which is so interesting considering she is representing the party that is doing the damage. In the show “Actually” though I feel that Tom’s situation more aligns with this song because he was taken advantage of at a young age. He was a victim of statutory rape from an older woman, but I don’t think he had fully grasped his situation because of the culture he was in. In a way he is more like the woman in the song who is assaulted by the older man. Also, Tom deals with the fact that his roommate and close friend assaults him multiple times, one time when he was in a sensitive place. It shows the pervasiveness of sexual assault and how no one is safe from it in any relationship dynamic while also showing the possessiveness/selfishness of the act.
Retracing the Trace by Luzene Hill
The last curatorial for this piece I chose was “Retracing the Trace” by Luzene Hill which is a performance art piece. Hill lays on the ground in a shape and allows for a bunch of knotted rope to drop on her body. Once all the ropes have dropped Hill gets up to reveal an imprint of her body on the ground. The imprint is to represent the victims of SA while also to mimic how Luzene Hill was on the ground when she was sexual assaulted on the ground. The ropes that she is picking up is to represent the sexual assaults that go unreported while also using her imprint as one of the sexual assaults. It’s a powerful piece that engulfs a room as you are surrounded by people’s assaults that you will never know of. They exist in a person, aching in them as they carry the load by themselves. I think that this art piece connects to “Actually” because so many people don’t report because of how the court system goes about sexual assault, victims under lenses, the publics comments which results in so much pressure on victims. It’s almost suffocating and I think that the art piece does a good job at encompassing the goers like how the victims feel trapped. Amber was still trying to process and needed someone to be by her side while she worked through the experience, but her friend immediately started berating her. She was trying to come from a helpful place but by applying that much pressure it started to remove the situation from Amber’s hands. Tom was just assaulted that night by someone he considered close and got drunk to try to escape it. He and Amber while both under the influence had sex and the consent lines were blurred and Amber not remembering that night all that well. With Amber under the influence and waking up after someone having sex with her it’s a very jarring experience. The pressure they were put under, these lenses they were under, these systems that pressured them made them turn on each other immensely, losing what was almost thought to be love to a space so big between them.