Gisela Getty: Ashes to Rishikesh

The photo exhibition Ashes to Rishikesh is dedicated to the final year of my twin sister Jutta Winkelmann’s life, documenting her dying process through a unique series of photographs. These images were created in close collaboration with Jutta, who, as a prominent figure of the 1968 movement alongside me, her sister, gained recognition through films and books.

The exhibition reconnects with the spirit of 1968, when we envisioned and championed a new way of living. Now, it opens a dialogue about death and dying—a spiritual journey that views death not as an end, but as a beginning of a new life. Ashes to Rishikesh invites visitors to engage in this intimate process and confront a topic that remains taboo in our culture.

Jutta Winkelmann, who can be described as a pioneer of self-determined conscious dying, actively shaped her farewell. Central to this was her unconventional life in a spiritual commune, media-dubbed a “harem,” with Rainer Langhans, myself and two other women, where radical transformation through “learning to die”—via meditation—was practiced for decades. Until the very end, she worked on a comic book ‚Mein Leben Ohne Mich‘ (My Life Without Me) published by Weißbooks Verlag, in which she confronts her death, her fears and despair and her spiritual search. The photographs, co-created with Jutta as both subject and object, mirror this journey. As protagonists of the 68 generation, who lived and invented a new life I feel it’s imperative to invent and explore a new approach to dying: dying into a new life and love.The photographs, co-created with Jutta as both subject and object, mirror this journey.

The opening event, designed to have a special character, will feature a guest with whom I will discuss death and dying in our society. Visitors are warmly invited to participate in the conversation. I will also be present during all exhibition days. 

Curated by conceptual artist Joachim Bosse.