DYADIC | MAPJD 2016/17 | Projects

Genetopia

Genetic research in its present state puts humans at a peculiar knife edge between utopia and dystopia. Today we have greater abilities to understand and edit the human genome than ever before; we can eradicate ‘flaws’, genetic errors, abnormalities. We can even repurpose DNA for the encoding and extraction of information since DNA is – after all – nature’s hard drive, able to store information through the history of an entire species.

But with this growing knowledge and ability comes a deluge of questions that have the potential to affect us all. What should we eradicate? What should we keep? Who gets to decide how far we should go when it comes to designing the species? How will offsetting illness and pre-selecting against genetic conditions affect insurance, healthcare, culture, education, legislation? What are the vectors along which we should consider our humanity, and what do we collectively value as truly fundamental to being human?

'Genetopia' is a documentary photography project that combines research, portraiture, personal stories and cutting edge scientific imaging to engage with these questions and present some of the ways in which we are already answering them on an individual basis. Its aim is to stimulate further conversation, debate, and research, and to highlight the complexity of the issues at hand.