Harlee (Circles) Murray

Born 1961

The early discovery of her sexuality meant that school life was never going to be easy. Protestant, working class Glasgow was an unforgiving environment for him.

Not living up to his parent’s expectation, Harlee ran away first to Manchester then onto London at 15.

Living in a North London squat he fell into the emerging Punk Scene where she knew Richard Dudanski a drummer in the 101ers, who helped him get a job at Rough Trade Records on Kensington Park Road .

He began to produce fanzines and gig posters for a host of Rough Trade artist, Spending the next years emerged in the crucible of Punk and Post Punk, Knowing a who’s who’s (including Dave Stewart who references Circles on the Eurhythmics first Album in 1981) of the music scene, Band Performance did not appeal, but attending a Throbbing Gristle Gig in 1978 his idea of performance changed.

First Came a ‘Punk Nazi’ where dressed as a Nun he would eat swastika shaped cakes filled with Ribena so that performance ended with him covered in ‘blood’ . Usually to a stunned audience.

By the early Eighties found her working at InPhaze records as an assistant which is when Circles began a run of Performance Art before gigs and the performance had changed to

‘Killer Coney’ where dressed as a rabbit she would mince 8 dead Rabbits on a small table. 

During a tour of Europe in 1984 she was arrested in Austria, but the tour proved fruitful in that Hermann Nitsch saw a performance and asked Circles to become one of his assistance in his assistant in actions during 1985,Where she returned to assist until 1988.

He drifted about for 18 months before in 1989 she went on a trip that ended but didn’t finish in Tibet, Circles has spent the last 23 years in Buddhist Counties roaming but also producing. Thangka the painted or embroidered banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and carried by lamas in ceremonial procession, plus sand mandalas made for destructive ceremonial purposes. 

During a recent trip in Sri Lanka we met circles  and convinced him to do her first show in 25 years.