Image and exposure: Envisioning genetics as a forensic-surveillance matrix

This paper takes the ‘visual’ as the primary subject to engage in a dialogue about surveillance by drawing upon the specific case of the genetic image. Specifically, the genetic image has shifted from the ‘one gene for one identification’ model used in the criminal law to, what are now, categorical, contextual and pattern-based configurations of DNA profiling that are able to compare multiple genetic samples in a singular image. The ability to profile genetics for law and security purposes is, thus, protracting well beyond the confines of the criminal legal domain (i.e. the crime scene, forensic laboratory, courtroom) and into the realm of surveillance: national security, defense, immigration, military and even humanitarian domains. Such a notable transition in visual profiling has also been met with a synonymous reformation in the status of genetic data as it converts from evidence in the realm of criminal law to, now, intelligence in the surveillance-based contexts noted above. This visual reclassification of genetic data reorients DNA to an informing, as opposed to an identifying role. Finally, how experts, scientists, legalists and other relevant practitioners conceive and represent ‘truth’ and ‘trust’ in light of an increasingly diverse range of genetic imagery is subject for discussion.