Sacred Intent

Sacred Intent is a book of conversations between the artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (1950 to 2020) and Carl Abrahamsson, a Swedish author who was a longtime friend and collaborator. The talks begin with a 1986 fanzine interview about projects P-Orridge was then working on and continue to 2019, when P-Orridge reflected on life and death while battling leukaemia. Along the way they cover philosophy, magic, travel, art theory and the shifts in gender that were central to P-Orridge's thinking.

P-Orridge is best known for C.O.U.M. Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) and Pandrogeny. Across these projects, P-Orridge worked through performance art, music, collage, poetry and social criticism, repeatedly defying expectations and reworking existing material to take apart systems of control and authority. Beneath that confrontational, rebellious streak, the book shows a deep commitment to a holistic, spiritual and magical view of the world, expressed through the idea of sacred intent.

The book will appeal to readers interested in contemporary art, the fluidity of identity, gender change and magical philosophy. It also documents a close friendship and the ideas that grew out of it.

The expanded edition includes photographic portraits of P-Orridge taken by Abrahamsson, transcripts of key lectures, and a 2004 interview with P-Orridge's partner Jacqueline, known as Lady Jaye. It also contains writing by Abrahamsson produced after P-Orridge's death in March 2020.