Artist and DJ Mo Kelly: The belief that people are inherently good gets me through life 

I grew up by the sea in Clontarf. I'm the youngest, a surprise baby. There’s 18 years between me and my eldest sister so it was almost like being an only child. Growing up, I played on my own a lot; that developed a robust, impenetrable imaginary realm that I tended to dwell in.

Art was always an escape for me. My mum never minded any of her children making a mess — as long as it was a creative endeavour. I was given paintbrushes rather than pencils.

My mum was an English teacher, my dad was a maths teacher, so it was spot on for both sides of the brain. My favourite album as a child was Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.

Those early childhood things shape you. Genes do come into it but that compulsion and drive to make art — it's a propensity that I think you're born with.

A real ‘pinch me’ moment was when one of my paintings was projected onto the biggest billboard in Times Square as part of a digital art exhibition. The thing I'm most proud of is that I set out to make a living in the Arts and that we were able to eke out a good life for ourselves, [Mo’s husband is a composer] to travel the world, and to do it on our own terms.

Often with gigs, they’d forget to tell me who the celebrity was. It would all be so hush-hush. One of those examples was a car launch and they were like ‘it’s Gary Numan.’ I’m a huge fan. He was cuddly and sweet with absolutely no ego.

A lot of the time, I’d have to sign non-disclosure agreements. 90s Dublin was fun a time. I was djing with Groove Armada and I was late, I’d missed my train. I was putting the needle on the record and my hand just started shaking, I was so nervous but they were so nice and came in to chat to me beforehand.

Unwavering optimism is my greatest quality. It’s not blind or mindless. Fundamentally, I believe that people are inherently good. That gets me through my life, especially in recent times, with the pandemic and seeing what it feels like watching the world collapse.

I enjoy Twitter because it's wordy but I had to get rid of it. It just took a turn. I couldn't — it was too dark. Social media can be such a force for good but there’s an anti-intellectualism that's happening that really terrifies me. 

The person I turn to most is my husband. We know each other since we were 15. I know it's a cliché but he's my best friend. We were childhood sweethearts. He is my sounding board and I get a great kick out of him.

We’re going out since we were about 21 and I’ve such happy memories of going down to visit him in Ballymaloe when he did the cookery course. I have lovely memories of being in Cork — and my father in law, the broadcaster Michael Murphy, was just made an honorary Corkman.

Mo Kelly: I’d love my memory to live on through my art

The life lesson I’d like to pass on is to be expansive. Try and get out of your comfort zone.

My mum died when I was in my late 20s. One of my memories of her — and it always comes back to me — I was sitting in the car blaring RTÉ lyric fm and Maria Callas was playing. She closed her eyes and she beckoned me to do the same thing. She said ‘there's so much beauty in the world. Just listen out for it. Look for it.’ That’s the best piece of advice I’ve been given.

I’d love my memory to live on through my art. I’ve painted through every emotional state that I've ever been in from grief to joy and looking back over the years, I guess my paintings are a potted history of my life and times.

If I could change something about my past, I would say I’d probably go back to primary school and tell you baby Mo or Máirín (nobody ever spelled it that way) that it's ok not to fit in. I would find my tribe eventually, misfits and artists in the end. Being bullied in school does change your trajectory.

I'm vegetarian. I did veganism for a couple of years. Cheese is my downfall and I slipped back into it. We do like to travel so we have to weigh up ‘What are you doing for the planet’? Climate change is terrifying and I know we need to do more.

I used to travel a lot more with DJing. Those days were slightly hedonistic. I did a gig in India for a night which is just crazy. Thankfully, people have copped and they’re hiring more local DJs. It was thoroughly enjoyable but just so wrong.

I have a completely useless skill of being able to identify any piece of music from the first bar and similarly with people's voices. I would hope through painting and music, I can change how people feel, how they move, and their mood.

People's grace under fire often amazes me when I read about them going through difficult times — you never know what people are going through.

My dad is sick yet he has an amazing attitude. He always sees the funny side of everything.

People turning against education scares me. The only counterbalance to all the internet noise is being informed and trying to see other people's points of view. I'm terrified by people's inability to come together. It’s the culmination of the pandemic and people feeling terrified and isolated. Giving people like Donald Trump a license to ignore others’ perspectives and championing that as strength of character is bizarre.

I love languages. I actually had my master scuba diving card but I have bad ears. DJing kind of stopped me pursuing that one. I’d harbored a dive school fantasy, and that coupled with, I always wanted to do medicine, I’d say [if I wasn’t an artist] I’d be a multilingual padi scuba diving doctor somewhere hot.

• Mo Kelly is a featured artist in Incognito 2023, Ireland’s biggest online art sale in aid of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. See shop.incognito.ie.