Chrystal Ding
Genetopia
In 2017 - the year that consumer DNA testing took off - I began interviewing, photographing, and working with 23 individuals to curate the story of their experience with DNA testing. Since the project began, the story of genetics has had a tumultuous journey. Genetic testing has been used to store GIFs, identify remains, solve crimes, reunite families, break families apart. An attempt was made in Kuwait to create a nationwide DNA database. The scientific papers flow thick and fast with debate and disproof. But underneath the headlines is a very human story, the story of people who wanted to explore health, ancestry, themselves, and how that knowledge affected their experience of their own identity. This is the story that Genetopia tells.
Claudia Agati • Simon Clarke • Chrystal Ding • Doma Dovgialo • Fiona Filipidis • Ying Min Goh • Alejandro Gómez • Phillip Job • Jelca Kollatsch • Selim Korycki • Nayara Leite • Diarmuid McGarry • Yorli Mendoza • George Selley • Mattia Stompo • Harry Truman • Katie Waggett • Yi Yin • Alice Zoo •
Arts University Bournemouth
MA Commercial Photography
University of Brighton
MA Photography
Falmouth University
MA Photography
London College of Communication
MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
University of Plymouth
MFA Photographic Arts
Royal College of Art
MA Photography
University of South Wales
MA Documentary Photography