Artist Debjani Banerjee has opened a new exhibition at Bluecoat in Liverpool to explore her dual heritage and the preservation of culture [1].

The show examines the intersection of British suburban life and ancient Bengali traditions. By juxtaposing disparate cultural symbols, Banerjee questions how heritage is maintained across generations and geographic borders.

Central to the artist's exploration is the influence of family and the transmission of ancestral stories. One specific example of this cultural immersion involved the BBC's television adaptation of the Mahabharata. Banerjee's father required her to watch 94 episodes [1] of the series as part of her upbringing.

"If your father had insisted you watch all 94 episodes of a television adaptation of the Mahabharata when it was screened on the BBC, as Debjani Banerjee’s did..." Banerjee said in a review of the work [1].

The installation at Bluecoat uses these personal memories to create a dialogue between the mundane and the divine. The work prompts viewers to consider whether cultural identity is an inherited set of rules, or a curated collection of memories. Through this lens, the exhibition challenges the viewer to identify the thin line between everyday domesticity and spiritual tradition.

By placing these elements side by side, Banerjee highlights the tension inherent in navigating two distinct cultural worlds. The result is a reflection on how the diaspora adapts and preserves its roots within a foreign landscape.

“Debjani Banerjee’s exhibition at Bluecoat, Liverpool explores her dual heritage”

This exhibition reflects a broader trend in contemporary art where artists of the diaspora use specific, domestic memories to critique the process of cultural assimilation. By anchoring the work in a specific media event—the BBC's Mahabharata—Banerjee illustrates how global media can serve as a primary vehicle for cultural preservation when physical distance from a homeland exists.