Collaborative Listening in a Time of Emergency:
Seated in a circle, the crowd patiently waited for the sold-out performance to begin. A static image of the Navajo Nation’s volcanic Church Rock was projected onto a white wall in a dark room.
New Mexican cultures
Dancing Back to the Desert
I follow Jock Soto across the TV screen, measuring his movements in lengths. The length of an arm, reaching out, every finger engaged with emotion. The length of his neck as his head looks skyward, his black hair blending into the stage, his brown throat exposed, veins pulsing.
Love Pa’ Mi Gente Shine Through Me
By Jimmy Santiago Baca There was a time when you would have never caught me in a museum. At most, I had maybe visited a cultural display for el Día de los Muertos at our local community center.
![A row of wooden turntables with vinyl records are displayed on blue pedestals in a modern art gallery with a blue wall in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2-2-1-400x225.jpg)
¡Oye Primos!
By Petra Salazar How do we survive the uncertainty of our globalized, techno-digital age? Listen for answers in the sounds and stories of the Borderlands. The border is not just a geographic location, but something embodied in people who dwell on the border of conflicting identities.
![A person with tattoos stands facing a scalloped-edged backdrop, seen from behind, wearing a polka-dot top and denim shorts in a dimly lit setting. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TempoTiempo_HierroVilla-Espiritualidad-400x225.jpg)
A New Mexican Love Story
By Emily Withnall In Frank Blazquez’s photograph Sleepy and his Daughter, Sleepy flashes the prison gang sign for Los Padillas. He is shirtless and covered in tattoos, his arms wrapped around his young daughter, who sits on his lap.
Archi-story
By Carmella Padilla Stepping onto the sprawling campus of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in late spring 2021, a visitor expects little has changed since a nearly year-long pandemic shutdown emptied the Center’s public spaces and ground its cultural and educational programs to a halt.
Los Derechos de las Mujeres
BY CASSANDRA E. OSTERLOH, MA, MLS IN JULY 2019, on a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery to see the exhibition Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence, I was disappointed to notice the absence of Latinx women in the gallery.
![A life-sized car sculpture covered in blue, yellow, white, and silver fringe, resembling a piñata, displayed in a gallery setting. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20in20_Favela-1-400x225.jpg)
Twenty in Twenty
By Jadira Gurulé Over the years, the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum has presented exhibitions that explore visual culture, identity, social issues, and creative expression from around the world.
![A digitally collaged image of a crowned woman in ornate robes, surrounded by floating baby faces and cherubs, set against a mountainous landscape and red drapery. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/halfnewperu-400x225.jpg)
Perú Past and Present
By Tey Marianna Nunn, PhD In recent years, interest in Perú and all things Peruvian has increased at a rapid rate around the world. Llamas are everywhere in popular culture and home décor.
![An artist stands on a lift, holding the railing, in front of a colorful mural with large, expressive faces and figures painted on the wall and ceiling. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Frederico_Vigil_01_largeHERO-400x225.jpg)
Each Stone Has Its Face
BY ALIX I. HUDSON On a brilliant, hot August morning, I met with Frederico Vigil to speak inside his virtuosic fresco Mundos de Mestizaje, which he created over the course of a decade.