From 20 May to 1 June 2025, SOL Gallery in Fitzroy will host\u00a0The Power of Choice, a powerful and deeply human photographic exhibition by\u00a0award-winning photojournalist Julian Kingma, who has turned his lens toward one of society\u2019s most profound and rarely documented subjects: the lives of terminally ill people who have chosen Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD).<\/p>\n
The\u00a0official opening night\u00a0will take place on\u00a0Wednesday 21 May, with Kingma in attendance alongside\u00a0Go Gentle Australia\u2019s founder Andrew Denton\u00a0to speak about the project and the remarkable individuals who entrusted Kingma and Go Gentle with their stories.<\/p>\n
Two years in the making,\u00a0The Power of Choice\u00a0is a first-of-its-kind exhibition in Australia, and perhaps globally, offering a compassionate and unflinching look at people facing death on their own terms.<\/p>\n
Kingma, known for his emotionally resonant portraiture and decades of work in editorial photography, has created an exhibition that is as thought-provoking as it is humane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not an exhibition about death\u2014it\u2019s about dignity, autonomy, and love,\u201d says Kingma.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are stories of courage, acceptance and clarity. The individuals and families I photographed weren\u2019t asking us to feel sorry for them \u2014they were asking to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibition, based on Kingma\u2019s book by the same name, invites public conversation on the still-contentious topic of VAD, presenting the humanity behind a decision that remains taboo for many.<\/p>\n
With care, honesty, and artistic vision,\u00a0Kingma offers a space for reflection and empathy, challenging us to engage with end-of-life choices in a more open way\u2014and to ask, perhaps for the first time, \u2018What constitutes a good death?<\/p>\n
Exhibition Details
The Power of Choice
Dates:\u00a020 May \u2013 1 June 2025
Opening Night Event:\u00a0Wednesday 21 May, from 6:00-8:30pm
Venue:\u00a0SOL Gallery, 420 Brunswick St,\u00a0Fitzroy, Melbourne
Admission:\u00a0Free
Website:\u00a0https:\/\/solgallery.com.au\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From 20 May to 1 June 2025, SOL Gallery in Fitzroy will host\u00a0The Power of Choice, a powerful and deeply human photographic exhibition by\u00a0award-winning photojournalist Julian Kingma, who has turned his lens toward one of society\u2019s most profound and rarely documented subjects: the lives of terminally ill people who have chosen Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17979,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17978,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17977\/revisions\/17978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}