Inspired by the loss of a family member in the Wahine ferry disaster of 1968, Bridget Blair has drawn on both personal memory and biological history in this unusual photomontage.

The back of a wedding dress spreads like a pair of delicate wings or a shroud and its billowing folds could either be floating or sinking. The dress is filled with fragments of cells and chromosomes, suggesting both destiny and determination.

Born in Timaru, Blair completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Canterbury in 1995. She trained as a teacher at the Christchurch College of Education and has worked as Head of Art at both Mountainview High School in Timaru and Cashmere High School in Christchurch.