Between Heaven and Earth joined Rumi, Latvian miniature traditions and Reza’s photography

The 2023 exhibition Between Heaven and Earth brought Latvian artist Ieva Krūmiņa and photographer Reza Deghati together at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku through work inspired by the poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi.

The project was organised with the Latvian Embassy in Azerbaijan and presented as a cultural bridge between Latvia and Azerbaijan.

Forty-three illustrations drawing on miniature art

Krūmiņa exhibited 43 oriental-style illustrations informed by the traditions of miniature painting.

Her work sought common emotional and spiritual ideas across cultures. She drew on the Latvian writer Imants Ziedonis’s statement that the world becomes insignificant without love, using visual detail to connect national traditions rather than flatten their differences.

Krūmiņa was a member of the Art Academy of Latvia and the Association of Latvian Textile Artists.

Photography between conflict and humanity

Reza Deghati contributed photography shaped by decades of documenting war, displacement and ordinary human life.

One image connected with the exhibition had illustrated Rumi’s ideas through a mystical dance representing the movement of energy between earth and sky. It had appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1994.

The exhibition’s title reflected this movement between material life and spiritual aspiration.

Political representatives at the opening emphasised cultural diplomacy, but the artworks provided the project’s strongest connection. Krūmiņa’s miniature-inspired imagery and Reza’s photography approached Rumi through different media and cultural histories.

Between Heaven and Earth proposed that exchange does not require a uniform global culture. It can emerge through distinct traditions recognising shared concerns in one another.