Stand By Your Man

A three-part portrait that uses instant-replay to bring the past and future into the present moment.  It was inspired by the early work of Joan Jonas in which she seemed to use video as a mask: her live action was behind, or in a room separated from, the monitored video footage. Stand By Your Man was the template for Video Portrait.

"Motley used hand-held cameras to trace the detail in her gripping solo performance. With the combination of well-placed lighting and the stark black-and-white monitors, she managed to draw the audience to a tight focus that hovered between the live action, the intensified detail and the wicked twist of her replays."

                            Michael Zangari,  Colorado Daily, 1989

"...the production created the illusion that Ms. Motley was both herself and the memory of her father."

                       Jack Anderson, The New York Times, 2004