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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).
Lillia McEnaney (opens in a new tab) is a museum anthropologist and independent curator living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lillia is an assistant professor of museum studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her ongoing projects include collaborations with the School for Advanced Research Indian Arts Research Center and the Navajo Nation Museum. Lillia is co-editor, with Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetadle (Diné), of “Our Livestock Will Never Diminish” / “Nihinaaldlooshii doo nídínééshgóó k’ee’ąą yilzhish dooleeł:” Breathing Life into the Photography of Milton Snow Across Diné Bikéyah (University of New Mexico Press, 2026). Previously, Lillia was assistant curator at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, director of the Hands-On Curatorial Program at the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, and adjunct instructor in Lehigh University’s Department of Art, Architecture, and Design/Semester in the American West. She holds an MA from New York University and a BA from Hamilton College.
Without traffic, it only takes thirty minutes to reach KwaMashu and Siyanda. Past Durban’s inner suburbs, stadiums, mansions, and malls, I reach the few highway entrances that connect these historically Black neighborhoods—home to over 175,000 people, over ninety percent of whom are isiZulu-speaking—to the rest of this 3.25-million-person harbor city. As I enter KwaMashu, the road narrows and the terrain becomes less grid-like.
By Lillia McEnaney As visitors enter the Arts section of the Here, Now and Always at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, they are greeted by a large platform exhibiting several dresses, evoking the vision of a high fashion runway show. Alongside the dresses are historic ceramics, decorative footwear, and mixed-media purses. Central on this platform is a strikingly voluminous couture gown with terracotta and black design elements along its bust.
![Split image with a smiling woman on the left and a man on the right, featuring podcast branding and text reading Season 1 Episode 6 at the bottom. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/S1E5-blue-400x225.jpg)
![A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black jacket and beaded earrings, smiles outdoors in a desert landscape with hills in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/KathleenWall_portrait-400x225.jpg)
By Lillia McEnaney with Charlotte Jusinski In the 1960s, potter Helen Cordero (Cochiti Pueblo) turned to her grandfather for inspiration. Known for being an engaging storyteller, Santiago Quintana was always surrounded by children. Cordero took the image of a seated figure surrounded by a crowd of little ones, avidly listening to a story, and sculpted it in clay. This “storyteller” figure quickly gained popularity, with potters throughout the Pueblos soon creating their own versions.
