Artist's 3-D Sculptures Are Made from DNA of Strangers

On most days, the average person leaves genetic traces of themselves all over the public spaces they occupy. Used chewing gum discarded on the sidewalk, tobacco juice spat into a paper cup and left on a park bench and pieces of dry skin that flake off and come to rest on a bus seat all contain DNA from the people who left them behind. Most people never consider these items to be anything more than trash destined to swept up and discarded, combined with all the other garbage blowing through the city streets. Amazingly, however, this isn’t necessarily true. With Heather Dewey-Hagborg, an artist based in Brooklyn, New York, roaming the streets, the DNA left around the area is being turned into lifelike sculptures for display in art galleries.

3-D Sculptures Based on DNA

Dewey-Hagborg’s 3-D sculptures are produced from the anonymous DNA she finds throughout her urban environment. The anonymous citizens who deposited chewing gum, cigars and clumps of hair are unlikely to know that the artist has been sculpting art from their genetic information. Using eye color, gender and maternal ethnicity, Dewey-Hagborg uses her own home-made software to create a face that incorporates these traits. The artist selects an incarnation that is most visually appealing and brings it to life using her 3-D printer.

Imprecise Reconstructions

Dewey-Hagborg is quick to clarify that her sculptures do not exactly depict the faces of the people who left DNA behind. However, the faces may resemble relatives of the people whose DNA was used. The artist says that while part of the problem is a lack of experimentation with her program, modern technology currently makes exact results impossible. Gallery visitors are likely to be amazed at the sculptures, which are mounted to walls. The artist admits that her artistic creations bring a few questions to light concerning cultural biases because formulating faces out of just three characteristics requires inventiveness on her part. Drawing from cultural databases from the ancestry of the DNA donor’s mother, Dewey-Hagborg chooses characteristics that follow her own vision.

Stereotypical Artistry

At this point in time, Dewey-Hagborg admits that her creative process may be fraught with certain problems that cannot be easily resolved. Her artistic goal is to stimulate conversation in the global community regarding the analysis of DNA and its relation to computer generation of individual facial features. It naturally produces an image of a stereotype, an important consideration for viewers and authorities who wonder at the significance of the artist’s work.

In the future, Dewey-Hagborg is planning to include more characteristics in her works, including plumpness and freckles. However, her sculptures already include enough detail that area regulars might just notice an image of themselves in the gallery if they pay a visit to the show. In fact, people from all over the globe might want to see whether they can identify a family resemblance in any of the artist’s works. With paternity tests UK residents can definitively rule out family ties with the subjects of sculptures made by Dewey-Hagborg.