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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).
Kitty Leaken (opens in a new tab) learned photojournalism on the job at the Santa Fe Reporter and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
![Two Indigenous women stand side by side against a cracked wall, one holding a bowl and the other with a woven basket balanced on her head. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/06-e1654790925949-494x500-1.jpg)
A century of harking back and looking forward at Santa Fe’s beloved summer institution Each August, an estimated 100,000 people attend the largest juried Native American art show in the world: the Southwestern Association of American Indian Arts’ annual Indian Market. Audrey Brokeshoulder (Navajo/Hopi/Absentee Shawnee), the 2011 winner of Best in Traditional Junior Girls at the Native American Clothing Contest at Indian Market.
![A silver decorative piece with engraved patterns, set with seven turquoise stones and small turquoise dangles, displayed on a stand against a white background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/image001-3-400x225.jpg)
By Ross Altshuler In 1932, Dr. Harry Percival Mera (1875-1951), curator at the Laboratory of Anthropology, embarked on a trip to the Navajo Nation with the purpose of assembling an assortment of Navajo silverwork to form the beginnings of the Lab’s jewelry collection. He visited traders throughout the reservation to compile examples with a variety of styles and techniques. Bracelets range from the early pieces with heavy silver and decoration made with the tip of a file, to later ones decorated with handmade or purchased stamps and set with turquoise.
By Dr. Letitia Chambers Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass is a groundbreaking exhibition of works in glass by Indigenous artists. Co-curated by Dr. Letitia Chambers and Cathy Short (Citizen Potawatomi) and on view at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe through June 22, 2022, the stunning art in the exhibit embodies the intellectual content of Native traditions expressed in glass.
![A person kneels on a display platform arranging miniature figurines and buildings in a brightly lit museum with colorful folk art exhibits. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/LoveLittle_GIRARD_REST_06_kl-400x225.jpg)
BY LAURA ADDISON / PHOTOGRAPHS BY KITTY LEAKEN For thirty-seven years, Multiple Visions: A Common Bond has drawn international visitors and attention to the Museum of International Folk Art. This unique installation of some 10,000 toys and folk art objects from Alexander Girard's own collection, designed and installed by Girard himself, was a labor of love and a testament to this modern-design master’s attention to the global handmade.
