Ajla R. Steinvåg artist a.k.a. Class of Outcasts, born in Vadsø, North of Norway in 1975, currently lives and works in Helmond, an industrial city in the south of Netherlands. She has her education from Dept. Specialised Art Ceramics at the Academy of Fine Art and Design in Bergen, Norway, Dept. of Fine Arts at the Dutch Art Institute in Enschede, and participated in both the Ceramics and CAD-CAM postgraduate program at the Sundaymorning@EKWC and Body as Site residency at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity.

Steinvågs work method is that of a clinical researcher. To her anatomy, pathology and surgery are not only sources of aesthetic imagery, but the ideas, processes and techniques that the body undergoes are equally important. Steinvåg works in the prolongation of reality and wants to make us aware of the material processes in our body, identity and physical integrity as part of nature, as well defined by medical interventions. Instead of the illusion that we can avoid illness, Steinvåg confronts us with the beauty of imperfection, susceptibility, vulnerability and mortality as we advance along with the medical technologies.She has specialised further in the medical field as a casualty special make-up artist and actor. Working on the cutting edge of art and medicine Steinvåg has received several research and work grants by the Mondriaan Funds and Brabants in the Netherlands.