so mote it be

So Mote It Be is a handmade photographic book that traces the dissolution of a romantic and creative partnership through the symbolic language of Wiccan culture. What began as a shared exploration of spiritual practices and ritual imagery slowly transformed into something more intimate and complex—a visual rite of passage through connection, unraveling, and surrender.

More than a document, the book becomes a ritual object in itself. Each image functions as an act of both presence and absence, devotion and departure. Spiritual iconography and performative gestures are interwoven with the emotional textures of a relationship in transition, creating a body of work suspended between the sacred and the personal.

According to the artist, the making of the book became “a form of closure for the two of us.” It serves as both a collaborative creation and an emotional reckoning. Though the partnership has ended, its echo remains preserved in every page—an archive of a moment when love and art were inextricably bound.

In the exhibition, the book is presented as the central art object, surrounded by photographic works drawn from the landscape in which the collaboration unfolded. This environment becomes a kind of ritual space—evoking the places where connection was forged, where it frayed, and where it was ultimately let go. The surrounding images act as witnesses or offerings, echoing the emotional terrain of the book and grounding it in the physical world that shaped its making.

The title, So Mote It Be—a phrase traditionally used to affirm the end of a ritual—serves here as both invocation and benediction. It marks a final gesture of acceptance: that what was conjured in union may now be surrendered in parting.

In this context, the book becomes the exhibition itself: a vessel for memory, transformation, and letting go.

ARTIST
Javier Griffey

EVENTS
Opening Reception:
Saturday, Oct 4th | 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Book Launch & Artist Talk
Saturday, Nov 8th | 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Javier Griffey & Dana Buhl

in conversation @6:30PM

Closing Reception:
Sunday, Nov 23rd | 3:00pm - 6:00pm

so mote it be | publication

Out

Now

SO MOTE IT BE

by Javier Griffey

This handmade photographic book traces the end of a romantic and creative partnership through the symbolic language of Wiccan culture. Part ritual object, part visual archive, it explores themes of connection, unraveling, and release.

Created as a form of closure, the book stands as both a collaborative work and an emotional offering. Each copy is a vessel for memory, transformation, and letting go.

Location

454 Seneca Ave, Ridgewood, NY

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