A Brief History of the "1 Image 1 Minute" Project

This project is a contemporary recreation of Une Image Pour Une Minute, a project originally produced by French director Agnes Varda for presentation on French television in 1983. In Varda's version, a photographic image appeared on television (in-between network programming), and someone--a curator, photographer, or art historian--would speak about the image for one minute.


Here I have asked contemporary photographers, artists, historians, and others to select an image that has significance for them, and write or speak about it for the equivalent of 1 minute. The result is a a compelling and accessible means of gaining insight into other artists’ and photographers’ perspectives. The project is also a way of reactivating photo history, cultural literacy, and of offering a closer look at images than the mere fraction of a second that most contemporary images are afforded.

Spencer Mishlen


Spencer Mishlen, Photographer
Spencer Mishlen, Mom Holding Dovima with Elephants, 2006


The most famous photograph in my world is Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon. It is the oldest image in my memory of something that is not my own. Before my parents separated when I was five, they had a framed poster print up in the house that we lived in. I had always assumed my mother was the woman in the photograph with the elephants. I didn't learn otherwise until I was about 14 when I found the print in storage and read the caption under the image. To this day I can still feel the love of my mother when I look at Dovima with Elephants.
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Micol Hebron