Karolina Żyniewicz

2018

I am pretty sure I will never be a mother, but I am curious, as probably every woman is, how my offspring could look like. Cutting edge biotechnology has helped me to predict the potential look of my children. At that point, it was only possible to predict the potential eye and hair color.
I had my DNA determining the features mentioned above sequenced, as did the sample of 10 males. In the next step, the result of my DNA sequencing was combined with the result of each of the men, using a simple method of Mendelian crosses. The outcomes were uploaded into an open access webtool: HIrisPlex-S Eye, Hair and Skin Colour DNA Phenotyping Webtool. The tool indicated the most probable phenotypes. However, it should be pointed out that in this system some nuances cannot be reflected adequately: dark blond does not differ from light brown; green eyes are categorized as a kind of blue eyes. The prediction is not 100% precise.
Conducting the process of the offspring visualisation, I sometimes had to make the choice myself: between dark blond and light brown when it comes to hair colour and between different variants of eye color, including shades of blue, gray and green. I used pictures of children's faces from public domain images and photoshopped them, changing the eye shape to mine. I also changed some other facial features a bit to make them look more similar to me. It should be considered as an artistic invention. The additional visual elements are classic canvases with description including the combination of the DNA sequencing and samples of possible hair colors, which had been collected and donated by my hairdresser. This set of simple elements creates a sort of a story about my biology-based imagination and about impossible possibilities...

DNA sequencing has been done in Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii in Krakow