She lost her own son. Now she’s shining the spotlight on child loss

The powerful exhibit Empty Photo Project will be on display Jan. 12 to Feb. 8 at The Art Center at Washington State University Tri-Cities. An opening reception is at 5 p.m. Jan. 12.

Susana Butterworth, a WSU Tri-Cities student, created the exhibit, which tells the story — through words and photos — of 25 parents who’ve lost a child.

Butterworth lost her own son, Walter, last year. He had a genetic condition called Trisomy 18 and died at 36 weeks in utero.

“After losing Walter, I was experiencing a lot of grief, but there was also this disconnection with people that I was feeling,” she said in a news release. “I wanted to explore this realm of capturing emotions that people go through, but I also wanted to make it relevant to what I was going through. Coming out of the hospital, I want to show that losing a baby is a big deal. Some people don’t realize that or know what to say.”

Her work has been widely praised and has reached thousands after being featured on sites such as Babble, Huffington Post and Pop Sugar. Butterworth also was a speaker at last fall’s TEDxRichland.

For more information, go to emptyphotoproject.com.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 3:36 PM with the headline "She lost her own son. Now she’s shining the spotlight on child loss."