Bountiful
June 26 – July 24, 2026

In Real Grief | Potential Grief, Sydney Porter Williams presents a multidisciplinary installation examining the relationship between lived grief, anticipated loss, and inherited trauma. Combining photography, sound, sculpture, textiles, and found objects, the exhibition considers how personal and generational experiences of grief continue to shape identity long after the original sources of harm have passed.

The installation includes closely cropped photographs of hands from multiple generations of the artist’s family, gestures that resist simple interpretations of affection or control while carrying the weight of substance abuse, loss, and family history. A soundscape of family voices and songs fills the gallery, while a childhood crib overflowing with heirloom textiles, illuminated medication bottles, an embroidered floral canopy, and a holy water jar containing remnants of an early pregnancy loss create an environment that moves between remembrance and anticipation.

Rather than focusing solely on loss that has already occurred, Williams explores the experience of living with the expectation of future grief. The exhibition traces how both real and potential grief become intertwined, documenting the gradual formation of an identity that is no longer wholly defined by inherited patterns.

Sydney Porter Williams is a community-based teaching artist and Community Arts Research & Education (CARE) Program Director at the University of Utah. Her practice combines installation, sound, and performance to explore memory, identity, and transformation, informed by her work in arts education, community collaboration, and arts-based health research.

Bountiful Davis Art Center
90 N. Main Street
Bountiful, UT 84010
801-295-3618

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