The 2 OF US

Woodblock prints

TJ Bateson

Goods Shed, Inglewood

In these reworked woodblocks from the 2024 exhibition, the Two of Us, TJ Bateson continues to focus on the slippage between self and donor.

“Not dead, not broken but very much altered, I'm now the two of us. Loaded with a new immune system, powered by new blood and cancer-free after a ten year battle with Mantel Cell Lymphoma, all this made possible by a donation from my daughter, May Rose. In short, May's bone marrow has replaced mine and I now make her blood to fuel my body. I have two DNAs coexisting together and a new immune system. Her presence within me is felt and reflected in this work through the abstracted layering of our DNA maps. This work explores this new internal and emotional relationship that exists within my new altered self. It is, indeed, the two of us.”