Tumour Humour – A journey with brain cancer
In 2011, Jai Sutton-Bassett, at 27 years old, had completed degrees in both Japanese and Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania, and was preparing to move to Japan.
With no prior symptoms, he had a seizure which the Royal Hobart Hospital diagnosed as a brain tumour. Jai was referred to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he had surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible. When he recovered, Jai moved to Japan for 4 years to teach, but a routine MRI showed that the tumour had reappeared and he returned to Melbourne for treatment. Further surgery was too risky, so in 2016 he had radiation treatment and months of chemotherapy. His tumour then remained stable, though with side effects from the radiation treatment, particularly tiredness and low energy. However, in 2023 a routine MRI showed changes in the tumour and Jai commenced chemotherapy, but ongoing treatment was to no avail, and Jai passed away in late December 2024.
In the period of remission after his 2016 treatment, Jai wrote:
‘My tumour provided me with a wealth of experience for my art to draw upon. But I struggled to find a visual form to express my feelings about having a tumour, to exorcise my existential dread from my mind and onto the page in a way that was cathartic and healing. Then it came to me. I would make a comic about my brain cancer experience. Applying my art and teaching background, and my sense of humour, I developed a digital art series reflecting my responses to my diagnosis, including the humour to be found despite the darkness that I sometimes felt.
I made my tumour a relatable character, bereft of any malicious intent but drawn into the same maelstrom of confusion I faced. I gave my tumour form and substance, a face and a voice. And eventually a name, Crowley.’
Jai titled the series of digital works he produced ‘Tumour Humour’, initially working in black and white, and then in colour.
While the works tracked personal experience, they confronted more universal themes such as medical treatment, dealing with relationships and other people’s reactions to a person with cancer, coping with emotional stress and the health impacts of a cancer diagnosis, and facing death. In 2021, a collection of 46 of the works was published as a book with the title ‘Tumour Humour – A journey with brain cancer’. Copies of the book can be obtained by emailing annica2ron@gmail.com.
Selected artworks from the Tumour Humour book are shared below with kind permission from Jai’s family.
Haven’t grown.
Longtime no see.
Badass scar.
Good intentions.
Just dance.
