"TRIANGLE OF STRENGTH" by ANNE MURRAY

 

TRIANGLE OF STRENGTH

A conceptual and installation project by and featuring Anne Murray

February 2023

The Refugee's Art Gallery is pleased to exhibit an installation formed from remnants of fabric that artist Anne Murray had hand sewn into bags. Anne is a poet-artist who creates installations, social projects and interactive participatory collections. Beginning in 2020, during the Covid pandemic, she had created bags for the homeless in Budapest where Anne currently lives. As of March 2022 with Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, Anne created bags for Ukrainian refugees. The bags are only part of Anne's volunteering efforts. She also helped feed the refugees, provide school supplies for children, assisted in finding housing and medical help, and offered moral support for hundreds of people who arrived to Budapest from Ukraine, both Ukrainians and foreign nationals who were residing in Ukraine for work and university studies.

A Hungarian man who describes himself as of Hungarian gypsy origin, nicknamed Laci. He 

worked as a waiter for many years and lost his job when the pandemic hit, resulting in him 

living in the street. At first Anne made him a bag from used clothing, then when it began to rain 

more, she created this prototype with waterproof vinyl. 

A photo of László 2, so-called because so many of the homeless Anne met in Budapest were 

named  László. She began to give them numbers, which amused them greatly. Normally he

 would sleep at the homeless shelter, but she created a kind of sleeping bag blanket for him 

when he chose to join the others sleeping in the square during the summer. He died recently 

of a heart attack while being cared for in a homeless shelter, where he had lived for a few 

years as a retired police officer, without enough savings to live on his own. He liked to listen 

to music and often asked her to play ACDC, Guns N' Roses, Deep Purple, and the Beatles

for him on her phone. 

This little girl, a Ukrainian refugee, loved unicorns and so Anne made a unicorn bag for her.

 An Irish recent graduate of the veterinary school in Budapest who was returning home 

had given Anne the unicorn to give to refugees, which is pictured here in her hands. 

Notes on the Installation:

After receiving the fabric remnants, The Refugee's Art Gallery decided to install them against paper bags for their obvious symbolism, but also in the shape of a triangle because a triangle denotes strength. For increased strength, there's been an increased use of the triangle in buildings and building materials, e.g. New York City's Flatiron Building, Norway's triangular-themed buildings, Marc Rolinet’s Chapel of the Deaconesses of Reuilly in Versailles, and Rizal Muslimin's design of flat, triangular bricks known as BeadBricks that was hailed during Brickstainable, a design competition sponsored by a consortium of brick-making firms.

Triangles are sturdy; while a rectangle can collapse into a parallelogram from pressure to one of its points, triangles have a natural strength which supports structures against lateral pressures. A triangle will not change shape unless its sides are bent or extended or broken or if its joints break; in essence, each of the three sides supports the other two.

—from Wikipedia on the triangle

The Gallery chose the triangle to symbolize how Anne Murray's project provides strength through her support of the homeless and refugees.

The Bags Beyond the Gallery:

The following presents images of some of the bags Anne made and close-ups from the installation of associated fabric remnants:

Anne made this back for a six-year-old Ukrainian girl who came to Budapest with her mother escaping the war. She arrived to her apartment with her mother wearing a dress with unicorns on it. Anne was given fabric by Michael Bist, Andrea Breitling, and Sandra Knibbs Herter. One of the prints had unicorns on it, so she made the bag especially for this little girl for her school supplies. 

These bags were made for a fundraiser to support Ukrainians needing food in Budapest which was held at Jack Doyle's Pub and sponsored by Morgan Stanley and organized by BonnyJo Pratt. 

These bags were made for a fundraiser at Manyi Kulturalis Muhely community center in Budapest to support a food program for Ukrainians organized by a citizen's initiative and the Two Tailed Dog Political Party MKKP. 

When she learned that Ukrainian refugee children needed school supplies, Anne created 

pencil cases, gym bags, and tote bags as well as collected money to fill them with pencils, and paper. 

This bag was made for László 2 and was the first backpack made for the homeless 

during the pandemic. 

Anne made hundreds of bags to give to Ukrainians who came to the food distribution point 

and didn't have anything to carry their food home in. It was an initiative with few resources 

and each person volunteering tried to do something extra special to help.

About the Artist:

Anne Murray creates video installations, social projects, and interactive participatory collections. Her social projects include working with the homeless in Budapest independently to collect their stories and life experiences, while offering them handmade backpacks, and home cooked delicacies over an intense year of the pandemic. As a result of the need for help during the war in Ukraine, she has and continues to welcome and aid many refugees arriving to Budapest since February 2022. She is known for her project, “What are you howling about?,” which is a collection of people’s fears recorded in Algeria and combined with video to bridge connections between the United States, Europe, and North Africa through the investigation of emotions we all share and which often become the root of prejudice. Through her video work, she presents our fears as a common thread in humanity rather than a means to divide us. 



Murray has exhibited her work extensively throughout Europe, in North Africa, Asia, and the United States. She has published articles in the Arts & International Affairs Official Journal of the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), Sculpture Magazine (USA), Happening Magazine (Paris), and Ineffable Magazine of Algerian Art and Culture (Algiers).

Anne Murray with the Irish Ambassador to Hungary Ronan Gargan who bought one 

of her bags during a fundraiser at Jack Doyle's Pub in Budapest. "He chose a green bag 

of course." During the event, Anne sold 21 bags with proceeds going to provide food for 

Ukrainian refugees. The event was sponsored by Morgan Stanley and organized by BonnyJo Pratt. 
 

**

THE REFUGEE'S ART GALLERY

Note From the Gallery Director:
Due to California's 2020 Glass Fire, gallery operations at North Fork Arts Projects (NFAP) were temporarily suspended. But as NFAP's curator, I didn't feel like giving the wildfires the last word. I decided to open NFAP’s offsite operations at my fire evacuee residence. Given that this residence and studio is much smaller than my pre-fire digs, the gallery's physical space also has downsized to, not even the closet but, the closet door. The Refugee's Art Gallery may well be the world's thinnest gallery—perhaps I should apply for a Guinness World Record!

My studio has a closet fronted with two sliding doors. One sliding door introduces the gallery. Slide that door away and the second door will be revealed with the hanging artwork. Obviously, all artwork will be flat as the distance between the two doors is 3/8th of an inch. But I can work with that (e.g. Anne Murray's Installation). I am glad to present NFAP's offsite Refugee Art Gallery because ART IS RESILIENT. I hope viewers also enjoy the presented artworks.

—Eileen R. Tabios