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.

Todd Gray



Todd Gray, Artist
Kyungmi Shin, Africa High Rise, 2008. Photo collage, 8 x 12 x 4 ft.


I am immediately transported to another place while viewing Africa High Rise. Is the image about to explode or implode? I can't tell. Perhaps it is on the verge of both, buckling under its own weight, shifting on its invisible tectonic plates. As I look, my eye has developed a mind of its own quite apart from my brain, lagging behind, engrossed in the game of meaning, as my gaze wanders across this image, dancing, stopping and stuttering to the polyrhythmic pulses of the pictures.


I see places and scenes familiar to me yet they appear completely new in this collage. I am reminded of the chaotic and indescribable beauty I frequently encounter on my travels to Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. I can almost smell this photo collage, and feel the damp heat on my skin.


It remains fresh every time I lay my eyes on it.
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Micol Hebron