Artist Statement
Choose Treatment, Not Talent
My illustrated series, “Choose Treatment, Not Talent”, represents both advocate and protestor perspectives on Designer Babies. The controversial and terrifying details within each point of view enhanced my puzzlement and curiosity. The initial goal of DNA re-engineering technology was to decrease life-threatening genetic diseases and give a fighting chance to people with generations of hereditary illnesses. However, with this cutting-edge technology comes overwhelming legal, regulatory, and ethics discussions.
Advocate Perspective
After this technology has matured, people are no longer satisfied with merely curing genetic diseases. Now some people want to design babies; some prefer silky blonde hair, some want an IQ of 145, and some chose ENTJ personalities. What would the world be like then? Instead of looking for the perfect house next to a nice pre-school, prospective parents will be racing to chase the latest trends and design their embryos to be the best looking or most intelligent. Would any of these perfect features help as these children enter their teenage years? Would they be shielded from heartbreaks and peer pressure? Can you engineer their whole life for them?
Protestor Perspective
Imagine a little sperm swimmer doing his best to reach the glowing egg as he can almost see the bright future, he envisions for himself. But little did he know he would be born with leukemia and spend most of his time in the hospital, sickened by the smell of rubbing alcohol. Now imagine a warm doctor’s hand helping him remove the evil gene before he is even born, leaving him free to live out his dreams, whether to be a football player or a makeup artist. Wouldn’t it be nice? Then would you vote for him to have this fair chance like everyone else? Would you give his parent a break from being overwhelmed by genetic disease?
By listening to different perspectives, I have enriched my knowledge and thinking about designer babies. My illustrated series tries to make tangible some of the issues at stake. I have worked in mixed media using a combination of foam, aluminum foil, clay, and paper mâché to visualize the complexity and depth of the issue of designer babies. In my series, I use the graduation cap and suit to represent the high intelligence of designer babies. The disease puzzle in hand symbolizes giving the right to eradicate or keep the genetic disease. I hope audiences can try to understand the varied concerns of others when faced with such challenging problems in new genetic technology.