One woman is collecting the traces left behind for DNA samples — in the name of art.
New York artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg's latest project, "Stranger Visions." takes random DNA samples she finds around New York City and turns them into lifelike masks that closely resemble the person whose genetics she gathered.
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As Dewey-Hagborg explained to CNN, the idea for the project came from a fascination with a single hair.
"This turned into a research project for me exploring exactly what I could discover about someone from an artifact they left behind,” she told CNN.
According to a blog post on Smithsonian, the forensic sculptor first collected a strand of hair from a public bathroom in New York City's Penn Station. Then she began collecting samples from all over the city.
Dewey-Hagborg processes the samples at the Genspace Community Lab in Brooklyn, N.Y. Using the samples, she then combs through an individual's genetic composition, mapping traits like gender, eye color and hair color.
She runs that information through a program to generate the 3D mask. Each model — which is more like a family resemblance than a mirror image — takes about eight hours to print.
While some may get a creepy vibe from the project, Dewey-Hagborg told BBC News that this feeling is intentional. She created the first mask using her own DNA.
“We don’t know yet how our DNA could be used against us in the future," she said. "Databases are expanding, and there’s little regulation for what I’m doing in the lab.”
Watch the video above for the full story about Dewey-Hagborg's work to raise questions about genetic surveillance and privacy issues.
Image: Flickr, Stuart Caie