Who are we in relationship to each other?

                                              

Left: This photograph of Indian women praying from The Family of Man exhibit is mounted on the stone wall skirting Clervaux Castle.                              

At the end of World War II, photographer Edward Steichen had a vision. He wanted to respond to the horrors of war and its emphasis on human conflict with a positive statement about “those universal constants of being that all humanity shares.” And so he set out to collect photographs from around the world, and out of them create an exhibit that would make the point, clearly and resoundingly, that the human family in all its diversity had even more in common.

The result of his work, an exhibit called The Family of Man, consists of 503 photographs collected from 68 countries. On January 26, 1955, The Family of Man opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and closed 103 days later having broken a 15-year attendance record. MoMA toured the exhibit to major cities in the United States and the U.S. Information Agency took it abroad. By 1968, it had been seen by more than nine million people in 69 countries. Several book versions of the exhibit have been produced and millions of copies sold.

By most measures, The Family of Man is the most successful photography exhibition of all time. Steichen chose images that show humans behaving in ways we readily see as “universal,” then grouped the photographs to emphasize these universals. Thus, the exhibit begins with photographs of couples hugging, kissing, rubbing noses or otherwise showing affection. These images are followed by a cluster of pictures of weddings; then comes childbirth and so forth, each group of images drawn from many countries. The overwhelming effect is exactly as Steichen desired: Love, joy, hope, anger, fear, pride in family, the protectiveness of parents, the exuberance of children—all come through as universals that unite the human family.

Clervaux Castle overlooks the city of Clervaux, Luxembourg, and is the permanent home of Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibit.

                                                                  
But the success of the exhibit is also its greatest weakness. The Family of Man is often criticized for glossing over stark differences among peoples. The exhibit has found a permanent home in Steichen’s native Luxembourg, where people from around the world (including me last summer) continue to visit and write responses in a guest book. One scholar who has studied the exhibit provides two direct quotes from the guest book that illustrate precisely the poles of disagreement. In June 1996, a Luxembourgian wrote:

How lucky we are to be part of this vast “Family of Man”! I believe that despite all the differences we really form a big family. If only we would stop destroying one another!

Just 10 days earlier, a British visitor had written:

The exhibition wants us to believe that we are all the same fundamentally. But we are not. We all are born, have children, and die. But there the similarity between me and an African, a Chinaman, or a Muslim living in Saudi Arabia ends. We all have very different morals and attitudes—we are not a “family.”

The exhibit itself and these two comments from viewers draw our attention inexorably to what I believe is one of the most—perhaps the most—challenging, perplexing, emotionally charged concerns of humankind today: Who are we humans—individually and as members of the social, cultural, political, economic and religious groups we inevitably and naturally form—in relationship to each other? What are the common grounds among us? When are the differences among us significant and worthy and consequential? Can we use our commonalities to overcome our hostilities? What differences are worth preserving, even with violence?

These questions are especially vexing for those whose faith teaches welcoming the stranger and loving the neighbor. I have no easy answers, only a hope and a prayer. My hope is that someday we will move beyond tolerating difference to celebrating the exuberance of human diversity. My prayer is for wisdom to know the difference between valuing diversity and a valueless, “anything goes” relativity, and for the courage to see and to stand against those human practices—including our own—that diminish other humans.

Top photo: This photograph of Indian women praying from The Family of Man exhibit is mounted on the stone wall skirting Clervaux Castle.