BREYER P-ORRIDGE, Prayers for Pandrogeny & Breaking Sex, 2003

Produced in 2003 under the shared name Breyer P-Orridge, this set of eight printed devotional cards, titled Prayers for Pandrogeny & Breaking Sex, belongs to the early period of Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye Breyer’s Pandrogeny Project. Each card measures 7.5 × 4.4 cm and carries a colour reproduction of a modified Sacred Heart image to the recto, with black text to the verso. The image retains the halo and devotional composition while replacing the conventional religious anatomy with an exposed chest and suspended red heart. The reverse texts take the form of prayers, declarations and a litany concerned with gender, identity and bodily transformation; all eight conclude with “S/HE IS HER/E” and the copyright notice © Breyer P-Orridge 2003. Through bodily modification, photography, performance and language, the collaboration explored the construction of a shared identity, redirecting the familiar devotional card towards propositions about the body and its capacity for change. The cards are accompanied by their original textured cream envelope, measuring 15.9 × 11.2 cm, with a blind-embossed circular LIMITED / P-ORRIDGE seal and two handwritten signatures in different inks to the front: “J Breyer” for Lady Jaye in grey, and Genesis P-Orridge in black ink. The seal does not establish an edition size. Condition is very good: the cards are clean, while the envelope has light handling wear, minor creasing and a small area of wear at the flap tip. Across the set, a repeated devotional image accompanies eight different texts, making repetition itself part of the object’s treatment of shared identity.

Read more in the Journal: RE:CIRCULATION No. 009, Found Prayer Card.