Amanda VanderBroek has been a cemetery wanderer since she was a teenager and since then has made many friends with ghosts and spirits of the past. She started photographing headstones and cemetery scenes in 2020. Her favorite era is between 1890-1920. She is the author of two poetry collections, “Romancing the Gatekeeper” and “Love Letters to the Grave Digger” which are both inspired by visiting and researching cemeteries.

“My work explores the relationship between ‘timeless’ and ‘timeful.’ I try to capture moments that are finite-a crumbling stone, a fading epitaph, or weathered artificial flowers-in a way that feels like you can spend as much time as you would like with them. It is in those moments of reflection that we can sense time in a way that there are no words for. Cemeteries are a liminal space where time has run out and time lasts much longer than usual, simultaneously. As much as my work is poetic, I am also still an historian at heart, so I hope my work will also bring viewers closer to history and allow us to learn about the past, because cemeteries also serve as an accessible and intimate museum that we the living can share. My camera of choice is whatever one is attached to the cell phone I am using at the time I am wandering through the cemetery.”

An exhibit featuring her work will run through July 31. It is free and open to the public to view during regular library hours: Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; and Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Morton-James Public Library is located at 923 1st Corso in Nebraska City, Nebraska.