Artist Makes 3-D Portraits From DNA Found on Gum, Cigarette Butts, and Fingernails | Short Film

So it all started with wondering what I could learn about someone from that little piece of themself that they left behind. A walk around the city, and everywhere you see these genetic artifacts—little clues that could tell you something about a person. I wanted to create these portraits of total strangers using tools at a community laboratory.

Stranger Visions is meant to provoke questions about privacy and surveillance. A lot of people who have seen the work are concerned; they wonder, "What if I dropped that cigarette butt? What if that was my piece of hair, and now I'm a face on a wall in a gallery?" What else might that mean? And of course, this piece is meant to provoke these kinds of questions.

People think genetic surveillance is the topic of science fiction, but it's actually a problem today. Personally, I think that we can't just be concerned about whether we individually have something to hide; we need to protect those who do have genetic diseases, who do face possible discrimination. Even though there is technically legislation that prevents genetic discrimination in employment and in insurance, it's not perfect.

I think it's also important to realize that there already is a population of people who are in a genetic database, who are in a DNA surveillance database, and these are people who are in the CODIS database. You don't have to have done anything wrong; you could just be a suspect. You could be someone who's been arrested, and you end up in this database forever. Beyond that, there are these major social justice issues of who is in that database.

With database bath Leoville, it represents a minority population, and so there's a lot to unpack here. As genetic surveillance issues become increasingly pervasive, we're going to need tools of counter-surveillance—things to protect us. You can't just leave your medical records on the subway for anyone to read; it should be a choice who you share your information with and how.

I hope that Invisible will represent a whole new line of research and development into DNA counter-surveillance. As far as I know, there's no other DNA counter-surveillance products available today, but I predict that within the next five years, DNA counter-surveillance products like Invisible will become as commonplace as hand sanitizer.