In Search of Domínguez and Escalante: Photographing the 1776 Expedition Through the Southwest

Beginning in 2003, photographers Siegfried Halus and Greg Mac Gregor set out with their cameras and maps in hand to document the contemporary changes to the land that friars Domínguez and Escalante traversed in 1776. While the friars initially sought to find an overland route connecting Santa Fe with Monterey, Alta California, Domínguez and Escalante, along with a group of several people, eventually circled what is now known as the Four Corners area and were the first non-Indigenous people to cross the Grand Canyon. Halus and Mac Gregor’s photographs are the basis for the New Mexico History Museum’s long-awaited exhibition, In Search of Domínguez and Escalante, in the Palace of the Governors and based on their book of the same title. This exhibition promises to inspire the viewer, encourage appreciation for inquiry and determination, and put into perspective the limits and impact of humankind at any given moment. On view through May 2022 in the Palace of the Governors.