Artist Creates Human 3D Printed DNA Portraits From DNA Fragments

Creative artists all around the world find new ways to incorporate technology into their art. It’s becoming ever more evident when you look at the displays and installations that are launched these days. Some artists go to great lengths in order to find and utilize the most intricate solutions to create art that hasn’t been created before. That is the case with Heather Dewey-Hagborg‘s art, which is driven by our very own genes and has spawned freakishly real DNA portraits.

Art in general is a creative outlet that has more branches than any other “industry.” This is even more true when you combine art with technology in projects like this DNA portraits installment. That’s when you start getting results that most artists haven’t endeavored into before. The uncharted land of technology art is a sure way to engage more people into what at some point seemed to be a dying breed, art in general that is.

Heather has found a creative outlet that is right on the edge of what technology can achieve today. She scours the streets for DNA fragments which she finds in stuff like cigarette butts, chewing gum and whatever else that might hold DNA for her DNA portraits. These blueprint strings of life help her create lifelike DNA portraits that border on the surreal. When you look at them, they first come across like eerie human taxidermy creations, but their refinement is far more complex than that.

With the help of a 3D printer, Heather is able to print these amazing looking DNA portraits that almost seem to come to life when they are placed on a wall. In a way, they help us understand the complex nature of human beings from just looking at the 3D print itself. The incredible coloring in these DNA portraits even adds to the immersive shock you feel when you first lay eyes on them. It won’t be long before we will have 3D printed full-body clones of our deceased loved ones. Now that, on the other hand, is downright freaky!