By Jessica Micallef
Memories of a young boy will live on in Kyneton.
Eight-year-old Tom Gray died in 2016 following a short battle with brain cancer.
His family has collaborated with Kyneton artist Daniel Butterworth and his project to create a series of portraits depicting Tom’s life.
“This family, they are grieving and maybe this can help them heal,” Butterworth said.
The artist said Tom’s parents, Simon and Carly, sent him more than 40 photographs from different stages of Tom’s life on which to base his paintings.
“From there I picked out the ones that appealed to me and would work visually,” he said.
“There are two or three [portraits] before you really knew there was any physical changes to him, then it started slowly becoming more obvious that something wasn’t right.”
The nine portraits will be displayed at Kyneton District Health in an exhibition called
Tom’s Life. Tom’s parents hope the exhibition will help raise awareness of brain cancer – and funds to fight it.
“It is extremely confronting, but ultimately the exhibition is to raise … funds so there can be more research so that it doesn’t happen to any other children or parents,” Ms Gray said.
Mr Gray said: “Anything we can do, no matter how uncomfortable that makes us feel, we’re going to do it.
“All we want is for no one else to sit in that room and hear that news.”
Butterworth said he was excited about having the paintings of Tom showcased at Kyneton District Health.
“It can do many things – it can heal people, it can maybe make people aware,” he said. “If I can help people through pain and troubled times by splashing a bit of paint around, I will do it every time.”
Tom’s Life will be launched on Thursday, March 7, and will run until Saturday, March 23 at Kyneton District Health, 7-25 Caroline Chisholm Drive, Kynton. Donations will go to Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.
