Gisela Getty: Ashes to Rishikesh

An uncompromisingly free life

Jutta Winkelmann (1949–2017), artist, author and icon of counterculture, lived an uncompromisingly free life. Together with Gisela, she belonged to the legendary 1968 generation, which broke new ground not only politically, but also spiritually and artistically. The twins lived in Berlin, Rome and Los Angeles, made films, associated with artists such as Dennis Hopper, Andy Warhol and Leonard Cohen, and were part of the spiritual commune known as the ‘Harem’ around Rainer Langhans.

Dying as a conscious experience

Until the very end, Jutta Winkelmann chose to shape her own departure. She refused painkillers in order to experience the dying process consciously. Her sister's photographs show her in moments of peace, clarity and inner journey, as both subject and object. The images are neither voyeuristic nor sentimental; rather, they invite us to view death not as a rupture, but as a form of expansion.

Lifting the taboo of death

Accompanying the exhibition opening is a public discussion with Gisela Getty and a guest on the subject of death and dying in our society. The artist will also be present throughout the exhibition.

Ashes to Rishikesh is an invitation to break the taboo of death in images that touch and challenge. A final revolution by two sisters who fought against stagnation throughout their lives and now also see the end as a beginning.

• The exhibition is curated by conceptual artist Joachim Bosse.
  

Gisela Getty (born 1949 in Kassel) is a photographer, director and author. Together with her twin sister Jutta Winkelmann, she became an icon of the 1968 counterculture. She studied at the Kassel Art Academy and founded the Kassel Film Collective, which was awarded a prize in Oberhausen in 1969. After living in Berlin and Rome, she lived with John Paul Getty III in Los Angeles. In the 1970s, she cultivated contacts with artists such as Dennis Hopper and Leonard Cohen. From 1975 onwards, she was part of the spiritual circle around Rainer Langhans. Together with Jutta, she made films and published books on spirituality, death and freedom. Her works have been exhibited internationally. Today, she lives in a commune in Munich and spends some of her time in Los Angeles.