The blue on the Brazilian flag symbolizes the sky, and it contains stars that represent each of the country’s states. The green symbolizes our flora, this land, inhabited by real-life people. Such a green also symbolizes the woodlands where mythological creatures lurk in hiding. These sacred spaces are the pillars of figures of devotion, spaces that encourage belief. This cultural, plural, complex, syncretic, hybrid, and diffuse system is also a way of embodying the imagination of our people: a population forged by Portuguese colonialism, born of different migrations, but also of the violent enslavement of many indigenous nations that used to live here, as well as African populations of different origins, brought here by force.
Between heaven and earth, in a very loose fashion, embraces fact and fiction in an attempt to make this system even more complex. Starting with the pictorial representations of deities and beasts, mythological creatures and fantastical characters, we find not only religious or mystical beliefs: we realize that the concept of “a Brazilian people” also relies on our belief in order to endure. Originating from a plural and violent miscegenation, this concept called “Brazil” persists and echoes to this day prejudices and truths spread throughout more than five centuries of existence. Therefore, we understand here, based on the rich imagery of the popular artists safeguarded by the collection of Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf do Brasil paradigms that challenge the very term naïf – from French, meaning naive – that is part of the museum’s name: many and different entities are worshipped here, from Ogun to Christ, from Werewolves to Santa Claus, from the religious rituals that mark the passage of time to the worship of images in museums. Yes, the very idea of a museum is challenged here – are the paintings and images collected by cultural institutions the only ones that matter? Haven’t our own stigmas surrounding the value of certain images brutally condemned certain artists to silence, to oblivion?
Between heaven and earth attempted to show a rich and diverse collection that invites audiences to ask themselves what their beliefs are: in art, in the country, in religions, in political doctrines. Not only artworks or holy figures are worshiped and adored. Here, what is popular intentionally meets what pertains to the masses: from the great pilgrimages to mass media, large worships are set beside images of TV shows, of the culture of spectacles, of entertainment.
It is important that we question our truths and see them for their fragility, to value culture for what it is: an amorphous mass, constantly transforming, which is created through our speeches and images. The root of the term “culture” is close to the concept of cultivation, of what is tended to. If for long we have been led to believe that certain manifestations are more important, special, or sophisticated than others, here we understand that there is technological wealth in the practices that still needs to be debated and broadly valued. Between heaven and earth “Não existe pecado do lado de baixo do Equador” [“There is no sin South of the Equator”], “Tudo é divino maravilhoso!” [“All is divine and wonderful”], and “Deus é brasileiro!” [“God is Brazilian!”], but so is the Devil. Through these images, we can realize that the desire to be together, united in our freedom of worship, is of immense value. From the sacred to the prophane, from what we are sure of to what remains a mystery.