In January 1955, Edward Steichen, Director of the Dept. of Photography at the MoMA in NYC, curated a photo-essay entitled The Family of Man. Steichen’s stated objective was to draw attention, visually, to the universality of human experience and the role of photography in its documentation. The exhibition consisted of 503 photos from 68 countries taken by 273 photographers including many from the Humanist Group in France. This visual sermon will address Steichen’s ambitious undertaking and its universalist objectives. As a coda to Steichen’s endeavor, Dr. Bleyer will present his own brief photo-essay on Humanity from a Personal Perspective.

Click here to listen to the reading and sermon.
Click here to view Ken’s slide show.

About Ken Bleyer: Ken Bleyer is a storyteller who writes with light. He has been photographing the ordinary and the unusual since he was a 16-year-old boy, but always making pictures with something to say. To this day he still uses medium-format analog cameras and black-and-white film to make a statement, ask a question or simply to admire what emerges in his field of view. Ken has been an attorney since 1988 and he holds a Ph.D. in public policy. He has worked in every corner of North America as an advisor to groups and firms – large and small – involved in environmental disputes. Fifteen years ago, Ken trained as an executive coach and since then he has collaborated with dozens of professionals, politicians, academics and others to reframe their stories about life and work, success and failure, meaning and nihilism. Ken also graduated from the Humanist Institute in NYC in 2003 and he is a Humanist Celebrant certified by the American Humanist Association.