06/27/2014

Making Art From the DNA You Leave Behind

31:02 minutes

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg’s “Stranger Visions” project started with a question: What could she learn about a person by collecting one of their stray hairs? In an age of ever-cheaper DNA sequencing, the answer turned out to be “a lot.” Dewey-Hagborg’s portraits of strangers, made with DNA samples found in public places, called attention to the feasibility of DNA snooping. Now with her latest project, “Invisible,” she wants to put the tools to protect genetic privacy in consumers’ hands. But is total genetic privacy really possible?

Segment Guests

Heather Dewey-Hagborg

Heather Dewey-Hagborg is an artist and biohacker based in New York, New York.

Buzz Scherr

Buzz Scherr is a law professor at the University of New Hampshire in Concord, New Hampshire.

Meet the Producer

About Annie Minoff

Annie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.