ABOUT BOB PROPHETTE

Bob Prophette (b. 1967, Toronto, Canada) is an artist, writer, and provocateur with roots in Wales, Ireland, and Canada. Raised by Irish parents, he has lived across Ireland, England, and Wales, now identifying as Welsh-Irish-Canadian. Describing himself as a “Priest, Bookie, and Judge,” Bob Prophette tries to defy conventions, blending irreverent humor, storytelling, and artistic inquiry into everything he creates.

In his own words, Prophette is “a dad, analyst, researcher, artist, piss taker, strummer, writer, singer, dancer, deep diver, fool, shaman, and prophette.” His works often take the shape of playful but subversive reimaginings of religious and other texts.

Bob combined a career as a senior advisor to the UK Government, working at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office until he retired in 2024. He is currently travelling while continuing his writing and performing interests. Currently Bob is focussed on an ambitious project to re-write the Bible using the format of beloved children’s stories.

Notable projects include:

Bob performs these works at spoken word and special events. He has performed across the UK and Ireland and recently in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the USA.

Bob has a deep love and respect for medieval art especially the works of Albrecht Dürer whose woodcuts and engravings have been used in many of his works. Dürer’s Apocalypse Woodcuts form the basis of Prophette’s Revelation Tarot, a satirical Tarot experience that uses the pagan imagery and symbolism of the Bible’s Book of Revelation (based on D H Lawrence’s interpretation) to provide participants with details of their Personal Apocalypse; the circumstances and fate of their body, soul and spirit at the end. Bob previously produced a tarot deck completely composed of fools, again using Dürer woordcuts based on Sebastian Brandt’s masterful 15th century Narrenschiff (Ship of Fools). This aimed at acknowledging, celebrating even, the various ways we can display our foolishness.

Prophette’s unconventional relationship with scripture is part homage, part satire—he isn’t religious or spiritual but appreciates these stories for their narrative power. His Random Bible arranges words at random to create a secular alternative; the Good Book strips the Bible of its “crap,” and the Female Bible preserves only female mentions. 

Bob is also the author of the The Golden Rule 2.0, an amendment to the famous golden rule which picks up where others left off and is the creator of the the Temple of the Conundrum of Christ and his Discharges.

Outside of his religious parodies, Bob Prophette has authored:

At the heart of much of Bob’s work is the notion that wisdom is overrated and humility is underrated. Often his works aim to poke fun at false idols, those who purport to know what’s going on, because, as history keeps reminding us, they don’t.

Bob’s work can best be described as literary appropriation, pastiche and mashup. Bob has ventured into musical appropriation and mashup as well, releasing the three song cycle For All Who Struggle in 2017. This work marries the songs of the West’s secular Jesus, Nick Cave, with the haunting and timeless beauty of the Muslim Azan. It was released to coincide with the height of fears around ISIS inspired bombings of European music venues.

Bob continues to work on and seek funding for his project, the Museum of Debt. This aims to be the world’s first museum exploring society’s moral confusion about debt and how, as David Greber illustrated, we took a venerable institution, and cornerstone of social relationships, and made it toxic – turning ‘thank you’ into ‘screw you’.

Bob continues to perform satirical interactive street and festival pieces and giving these an online presence where possible. In the past this has included:

Prophette and Shaman’s Metaphysical Bookmakers – a traditional British on course betting stand with a twist. You bet on beliefs, not horses. Later supplemented by Las Altas Finazas – a pamphlet promoting the city of London as the world’s highest stakes gambling destination.

Wallets of Wisdom – Bob’s attempt to create an uncommon currency: 100 wallets stuffed with wisdom were created and lost, with the finders encouraged to add to the wisdom and lose in return.

Circus of the Mind. A three ringed circus composed of various interactive games and experiences:

  • Sins of the Mind – a confessional for modern cognitive sins accompanied by the Book of Modern (Cognitive) Sins.
  • Court of Moral Ambiguity – a card game exploring our ability to rationalise morally ambiguous acts.
  • The Metaphysical Lottery – a version of the British National Lottery, complete with betting stand, where beliefs, not numbers could be backed.

The Burning Crucifix of Self Help – a book burning experience focussed on releasing the light from Self Help books.

Cornershop – an apocalyptic shopping experience based on the tropes of the traditional British cornershop.

Art addiction therapy and rehabilitation – an interactive career switching advisory service for those artists who realise they are in the grips of a filthy addiction and wish to transition to becoming more productive members of society.

Father Bob’s Travelling Salvation Show – which featured in several pop-up art shows and gave an outing for some of Bob’s religious parodies, including his recreation of the Last Supper.

Kafka 100 – a ‘honey trap’ to lure artists into a fake open call celebrating the centenary of Kafka’s death, in which they would face a series of increasingly absurd and impossible hurdles in getting their work accepted.

Bob often uses games to get people to engage with his works. This has included Metaphysical Roulette, a poker based ‘Court of Moral Ambiguity,’ a card game based on Holbein’s Dance of Death and Debtopoly – a version of the popular property trading game where players compete to enslave families, their freinds and relations into a downward cycle of debt.

Bob has also ventured into the work of satirical political parties, creating in association with his daughter, the Promises, Promises, Promises Party – which serves an an alternative to the UK’s Official Monster Raving Loony Party by gathering together all policies offered by frivolous political parties across the globe into one manifesto.