Rachel Owen


Rachel Mary Owen was a Welsh photographer, printmaker and lecturer on medieval Italian literature. She was married to Radiohead singer Thom Yorke.

Life and career

Owen was born in Cardiff, Wales. She received a B.A. in Italian and Fine Art specialising in Printmaking, from the University of Exeter. In the 1990s she lived in Florence with two students and studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, where she fell in love with Dante's work. In 2001, Owen received a PhD from the University of London, where her research was on the illustrations in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.
Owen was a lecturer in Italian with a focus on medieval Italian literature, where she examined illustration and its reception in Dante's Divine Comedy. She taught art history and Dante studies for visiting students at University of Oxford. She was also a fine-art printmaker, and a member of the Oxford Printmakers Co-operative. She mixed photography with printmaking and her work explored ideas of transformation using photographic screenprints. Her artwork was used on the cover of the 1993 Radiohead single "Pop Is Dead," included in the rerelease of their debut album Pablo Honey.

Personal life

For 23 years Owen was in a relationship with Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, whom she met while they were students at the University of Exeter. She and Yorke had a son, Noah, born in 2001, and a daughter, Agnes, born in 2004. According to The Times, Owen and Yorke married in May 2003 in Oxfordshire in a secret ceremony which was not reported to the media. In August 2015, the couple announced they had separated amicably "after 23 highly creative and happy years". Several critics believed the separation influenced the lyrics of Radiohead's 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool.

Death

Owen died of cancer on 18 December 2016 at the age of 48. She continued to teach Italian into her final months. Radiohead dedicated the 2017 OKNOTOK reissue of their 1997 album OK Computer to her memory.

Works

Exhibition

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