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Traces

4 minutes

Spray the DNA away – an artist’s stand against encroaching genetic surveillance

We leave ‘genetic artifacts’ everywhere we go, and it takes little more than a bit of amateur DNA sleuthing to discern a startling amount about us from these traces. Through her ‘Stranger Visions’ series, consisting of masks developed from the genetic material of strangers, the American artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg grapples with some of the difficult moral issues of genetic surveillance. Another one of her pieces offers a solution: DNA-erasing sprays.

Directors: Veena Rao, Emily Sheskin

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Support Aeon

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Become a Friend of Aeon or Make a donation

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge. Our mission is to create a sanctuary online for serious thinking.
But we can’t do it without you.

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview.
But we can’t do it without you.
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