How much can you find out about a person from something that they accidentally leave behind?
'Stranger Visions' by Heather Dewey-Hagborg (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images for Somerset House)
Heather Dewey-Hagborg’s work ‘Stranger Visions,’ currently on display at Big Bang Data, includes a series of sculptured human faces based on DNA that the artist obtained from objects such as chewing gum and cigarette butts collected from the streets in New York City.
Dewey-Hagborg’s work calls attention to the developing technology of forensic DNA phenotyping and the potential for a culture of biological surveillance.
‘You wouldn’t leave your medical records on the subway for just anyone to read. It should be a choice. You should be in control of how you share your information and with whom: be it your email, your phone calls, your SMS messages, and certainly your genes.’
The documentary below, produced by TED, shows the full process – from finding a hair on the street to analysing the DNA in the lab and generating model portraits from 3D printers.
Explore more of Heather’s work and the activity of her genetic privacy company, BioGenFutures.