Ásta Sigurðardóttir
(IS, 1930 -1971)

Ásta Jóna Sigurðardóttir was born on April 1, 1930 at a farmstead called Litla-Hraun. In her early years, Ásta did not have access to schooling. The farm was not equipped with running water or electricity; neither did the family have a radio. Books and stories were the entertainments of the household, and Ásta’s father’s fascination with literature stoked her natural creativity and brilliance.

At 14, she moved to Reykjavík to begin a formal education— an uncommon path for a rural girl in mid-century Iceland. She began to dress in fashionable clothes that lent her an air of glamour: the movie star in a modest milieu. Soon, she’d dye her chestnut brown hair black, paint herself in the makeup of Hollywood heroines and sew her own garments. She would sometimes go around in a pelt. This was also when she began to drink.

After receiving her secondary school diploma, she matriculated to Teacher’s College. In her second year, Ásta became pregnant; it was decided that her mother would keep the child while Ásta finished her studies, but her mother ultimately raised this child. Later, she became pregnant with the child of another artist, who coerced her into undergoing an abortion, which was only legal under the narrowest of circumstances (her pregnancy did not fit them).

Ásta‘s lifestyle and worldview exiled her from mainstream society. Work was scarce, and Ásta’s housing situation was unstable. Though she struggled with poverty and houselessness, she pursued mentorships and became part of a cohort of like-minded artists — bohemians such as the Atom Poets — who shared her values and embraced an exploration of inner life through dreamlike narratives. For a time, Ásta supported herself by modelling nude, which, combined with her image and the company she kept, caused a stir. She was known to take her breaks stark naked, reminding shocked passers-by that she was ‘in her work uniform’. Audacious, big, alive. Because of her appearance and mystique, she has been mythologised as the bohemian ideal. However, this obscures the depressing reality.

Ásta appears to have sought treatment several times, but toward the end of her life, the depth of her addiction had become so profound that she was willing to drink whatever was at hand, including antifreeze, to feel drunk. On December 21, 1971, at the age of 41, she died of complications of alcohol abuse.