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For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.
Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.
Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).
Rapheal Begay (opens in a new tab) is a visual storyteller based in the Navajo Nation. His work activates cultural landscape photography and oral storytelling traditions to document and celebrate the Diné way of life. His research and practice include curatorial collaboration and community organizing informed by visual sovereignty and land-based knowledge.
By Rapheal Begay As Diné, we embody a holistic relationship with dibé (sheep), kéyah (land), and hooghan (home). To illustrate, my family homesite in Hunter’s Point, Arizona, happens to be our old winter sheep camp and is a space of origin and belonging that continues to provide sustenance, connection, and healing. Concerning the Diné lifecycle, this image alludes to where my mother buried shitséé’ (my umbilical cord) within the sheep corral.
![A room with a fireplace and chairs. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/EP_PEACH-6446_resized-400x225.jpg)
BY ETHAN ORTEGA On March 28, 2019, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation designating Los Luceros (formerly a Historic Property) as a State Historic Site, thus securing funding, staffing, and preservation of the site in perpetuity. As a result, Los Luceros and its complicated history were thrust into the limelight and embraced by its visitors. (more…)
