“Bad Spells” is an Artist's Book comprising of 77 drawings.“Bad Spells” refers to Antonin Artaud's “50 drawing to assassinate magic” a series of drawings and text made by Artaud during his travels in Ireland and subsequent incarceration in 1937/48. Artaud referred to some of his drawings as “spells” coded messages that included text and cigarette burns, he sent drawings to his friends also to and prominent figures as coded warnings about the imminent apocalypse. Some of the drawings were warnings aiming to protect the individual concerned and others curses. In this respect I have embraced the notion of the spell drawings in “Bad Spells”. I am interested in Artaud ’s theories about non-linear fragmented narrative and when he talks about expressing/capturing something that is ‘between thought and gesture’. I am particularly interested in viewing Artauds work through the lens of Nancy Spero’s feminist re-interpretation of his drawings – the codex drawings.I am also interested in the absurdity of this idea, and use humour to reflect this. A question that underpins much of research is “what is the role of satire in re-inventing a feminist discourse for the current context?.

The Book was launched at The Old Hairdressers,Glasgow 3 December 2014. An exhibition of the drawings were on display at the event.