‘Total thievery is what it is. An outrage when she’s not here’ – The Creep Dive podcast co-host Jen O’Dwyer on the death of her sister at just 16
Losing her only sibling to cystic fibrosis had a profound effect on Jen O’Dwyer’s life. Here, the podcaster and painter shares her journey with grief, what instigated hit shows ‘The Creep Dive’ and ‘Stop The Madness’ and how competitive rowing has inspired her artwork
Artist and podcaster Jen O'Dwyer at her home in Dublin. Photo: Mark Condren“This is me training myself to be still and slow. That’s what I struggle with. I will spin out at top speed. My struggle is always just pullback,” says Jen O’Dwyer, who is talking about both her work as an artist and her rowing – she is a member of a club in Dún Laoghaire where she rows competitively.“Painting and rowing came at the same time because of timing. You have to row sequentially with your stroke. She sets the time and I have to follow her, so I have to slow f**king down and be present, and then all of that is painting as well. It’s total control. You have to just slow down. I paint horizons and timelines. I paint tides, like ebbs and flows and rhythms. Like music, like a beat. Each of them is almost like, you know, it’s a period of time. That’s what I paint, I just try to paint time,” she says of her artwork, which launched with a solo show last summer for the Murmurations collection. They are big, dramatic, beautiful acrylic pieces on canvas created in her home studio.
