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This is the fifth installment in .ART’s “Web3 Women’s Revolution” series, honoring Women’s History Month and exploring woman-identifying artists in the Web3 space. Aoife O’Dwyer (aoifeodwyer.art) is an Irish NFT artist whose work fantasizes the ethereal realm which evades our senses. This interview was edited for length and clarity. 

Describe yourself in 3 words. Go: 

Curious Resilient Vibrant

Let’s start with the basics: how did you get into art?

I come from a very creative family so it was always encouraged. It was one of my favourite subjects all through my school years and I spent a bit of time in art college too. I built a career in digital design for over 12 years but I always made art. Sometimes it was painting and illustrating as a hobby, or photographing everything. Other times it was expressed through full physical and digital installations as part of an artist collective I helped run for a few years.

Your work seems to imagine the ethereal. Tell us about it. How did you create that world?

I read something while researching a project at art college about how our brains can only take in a limited amount of sensory data from the world around us and that it just fills in the gaps for what it can’t take in or process. I became instantly obsessed with trying to imagine what could exist in these gaps in our perception. It’s the primary driver behind most of my work. I view my work as a way to conjure up all these worlds and beings that could be all around us but we can’t sense or perceive. To do that, I pull a lot of inspiration from sci-fi and mythology as well as from nature and culture more broadly. 

I view my work as a way to conjure up all these worlds and beings that could be all around us but we can’t sense or perceive.

The result is often ethereal or alien or a fun mix of both that I really enjoy. In a lot of cases I’m combining very familiar things in new ways and it’s interesting how that reveals the magic in what is already all around us.

You’re based in Ireland. How does that inform your work, if at all?

The mythology and storytelling that I incorporate into my work is heavily influenced by my experience of being Irish. The Irish language is a bigger character in my work than perhaps most folks might realise. 

The Irish language is a bigger character in my work than perhaps most folks might realise. 

A lot of my titles are derived from Irish words or meanings that I rework to coin new words or I’ll often incorporate phonetic spellings. My piece ‘Sahvolia’ is a phonetic spelling of the Irish phrase ‘sa bhaile’ which means ‘at home’ and is about the safety of queer love and connections. I created a character called ‘Enyo the Last Seanchaí’ who is my futuristic cyberpunk re-imagining of an old Irish cultural tradition of oral history keeping and storytelling. 

How did you get into Web3?

In 2021 I started seeing stories on Instagram from a woman I knew from the design scene in Dublin who was sharing her experience of getting into NFTs and web3 and it was the first time I saw someone I could relate to having a positive experience in the space after seeing mostly negative sentiment before that. I’ll always be grateful to Niamh aka @irishnftgal for onboarding me. NFTs are the perfect mix of art, technology and community building that capture some of my favourite things so I got immediately hooked on learning as much as I could about this new frontier of the internet and innovation in digital art. The space is constantly evolving and I’m still in love with the core of it even though we still have plenty of problems to solve.

NFTs are the perfect mix of art, technology and community building…

Which artist in history would you have wished to see on blockchain?

I wonder if the artists often forgotten or who have gone uncredited throughout art history would have been empowered by the autonomy and provenance of blockchain if it were available to them. Would the women and queer pioneers of art have shaped more of our understanding of culture and ourselves and the world? 

How would Claude Cahun have preserved their story and experience and perspective through onchain provenance? Would Felix Gonzalez-Torres have figured out an interesting way to use interactive smart contracts as a global participating audience? Or would the likes of Francis Bacon have been able to preserve onchain the paintings destroyed by ex-partners from his early career?

Any advice for people looking to get into Web3? Any words for those who are hesitant?

Take a look for yourself. You’ve nothing to lose except a bit of time by doing some research and regardless of how you choose to move you’ll learn something new, which is always a good thing. 

I always recommend that you first think about where you’d like to be – we have artists, collectors, curators, event organisers, content creators, speakers, data wranglers, meme makers, coders, product builders, designers, and all sorts of other contributors. It’s such a varied ecosystem that I’m sure your interests and skills will be welcomed.

You’ll learn something new, which is always a good thing. 

Start by following and interacting with folks you see doing what you’d like to be doing here and explore their networks (who they share, who they follow or reply to) to find others in your particular niche. For the most part we’re a friendly bunch who get excited about new folks looking to learn, experiment and join in. Reach out to me if you’re unsure where to start, my DMs are always open.

What’s the one question you hate getting asked the most as an artist?

I don’t think I’ve ever been sincerely asked something that I wasn’t happy to answer. It feels like a great privilege to be able to do what I do. It’s not always an easy path, especially as an artist working almost entirely onchain, so if someone has a genuine question then I’ll answer it to the best of my ability. 

The only times I’ve struggled have been when I’m met with immovable ignorance, mocking or unjustified hate towards web3, NFTs or AI. As a queer, leftist, neurodivergent woman making art that I put onchain it’s so hard when folks assume I’m aligned with some of the most hateful groups of humanity because they are so loudly linked with blockchain/crypto/NFTs/AI. I’ll always endeavour to demonstrate what good can be done with this tech if it’s developed and championed by good people.

I’ll always offer my perspective if I’m sincerely asked about something someone is unsure about but there have been times I’ve had to protect my peace.

What’s one benefit of having a .ART domain?

It’s simple to remember and it’s such an easy place for me to share my work. It immediately communicates what I do and the website builder saves me so much time. I also love the wider community of artists I’m connected to and the education and opportunities and perspectives I’m exposed to through the wider network cultivated by the .ART ecosystem.

Aoife uses our free website builder to show off her imaginative art. Register your .ART domain and use it for your portfolio or connect it to your Web3 assets today: https://get.art