Rachel Mary Owen (30 November 1968 – 18 December 2016) was a Welsh photographer, printmaker and lecturer on medieval Italian literature. She was married to the
Radiohead singer
Thom Yorke; they announced their separation in 2015.
Owen was a lecturer in Italian with a focus on medieval Italian literature, where she examined illustration and its reception in Divine Comedy.[5] She taught art history and Dante studies for visiting students at the
University of Oxford.[6]
For 23 years, Owen was in a relationship with the
Radiohead singer
Thom Yorke, whom she met while they were students at the
University of Exeter.[11][12][13] She and Yorke had a son, Noah, born in 2001, and a daughter, Agnes, born in 2004.[14] Owen influenced the lyrics of Radiohead songs such as "I Might Be Wrong"[15] and "Optimistic".[16]
In 2012, Rolling Stone reported that Owen and Yorke were not married.[17] However, The Times later found that they had married in a secret ceremony in Oxfordshire in May 2003.[18] In August 2015, the couple announced they had separated amicably "after 23 highly creative and happy years".[19] Several critics believed the separation influenced the lyrics of Radiohead's 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool.[20][21][22]
Death
Owen died of cancer on 18 December 2016 at the age of 48.[13] She continued to teach Italian into her final months.[23] Radiohead dedicated the 2017 OKNOTOK reissue of their 1997 album OK Computer to her memory.[24]
Owen, Rachel; Calè, Luisa (2007). "The Image of Dante, Poet and Pilgrim". In Braida, Antonella (ed.). Dante on View: The Reception of Dante in the Visual and Performing Arts. London: Ashgate. pp. 83–94.
ISBN978-0-7546-5896-2.
OCLC83609616.
^Owen, Rachel; Calè, Luisa (2007). "The Image of Dante, Poet and Pilgrim". In Braida, Antonella (ed.). Dante on View: The Reception of Dante in the Visual and Performing Arts. London: Ashgate. pp. 83–94.
ISBN978-0-7546-5896-2.
OCLC83609616.