The gallery space on Level 1 of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center will host the exhibition “Into Whooperland – Michael Forsberg,” through Aug. 7.
“Into Whooperland” is a photo documentary exhibition dedicated to visualizing the plight of the whooping crane. The whooping crane is the rarest of 15 crane species worldwide and one of just two crane species native to North America.
In the 1940s, there were fewer than 20 whooping cranes left. Today, there are about 830 in wild and captive populations.
Forsberg’s photographic expedition with whooping cranes follows their journey of conservation and strength. Forsberg has traveled roughly 50,000 miles on what he calls the “Whooper Highway,” an ancient north-south pathway from whooping crane wintering grounds on the Texas Gulf Coast through the Great Plains to summer nesting grounds in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
He has amassed more than 100,000 photographs, 15 of which are featured in this exhibition.
The images reveal the lives of these rare birds as they navigate caring for chicks, defending breeding territory, climate change and the impacts of alternative and fossil fuel energies.
“These photographs demonstrate how whooping cranes link habitats and people along their flyways, creating a community,” Forsberg said.
The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on their place in a deeply interconnected world.
Forsberg is a Nebraskan whose 30-year career as a photographer and conservationist has been dedicated to wildlife and conservation stories in North America’s Great Plains. His images have been featured in publications including Audubon, National Geographic, Nature Conservancy and Sierra magazines.
Forsberg is the author and photographer of “Into Whooperland – A Photographer’s Journey with Whooping Cranes” (2024), from which this exhibition features select photographs.
UNMC and Nebraska Medicine’s Healing Arts Program thanked Michael Forsberg Photography for the loan of the artworks and the exhibition sponsor, The Claire M. Hubbard Foundation, for its support.