Abigail Montes is a documentary photographer and educator proudly from the South Bronx. She holds an AAS from LaGuardia Community College, a BFA from Saint John's University, and a Certificate of Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism from the International Center of Photography (ICP).

Since 2013, Montes has dedicated herself to youth-centered initiatives utilizing the camera as a tool for change. Most notably she served as Co-Coordinator of ICP at THE POINT (2019-2025), facilitating free photography courses in the South Bronx, teaching the fundamentals of photography with social justice, self-esteem, community, and collaboration as thematic anchors.

In 2024, Montes joined the Seis Del Sur photo collective, documenting the struggles and resilience within the Puerto Rican diaspora of the South Bronx and striving to inspire the next generation of visual storytellers.

Montes will graduate with an MFA in Photography from the Yale School of Art in 2027.

AWARDS:

2024 Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts

2022 Shorty Impact Award Silver Honoree for Best Local Campaign

2021 CCCADI Innovative Cultural Advocacy (ICA) Fellowship

2021 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO)

2018 ICP Documentary Arts Fellowship

EXHIBITIONS:

2025 Searching for Superpublics

Center for Architecture, NY, NY

2025 Cross Bronx / Living Legend

Bronx River Arts Center, Bronx, NY

2025 Raw Heart of the City

Muse Gallery at CLLCTV NYC, New York, NY

2024 On Both Sides of the Lens: Documenting the Puerto Rican Diaspora

Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO)

2024 Seis Del Sur: The Stories Behind the Images

Museum of Bronx History, Bronx, NY

2024 Absolutamente Negro

Corredor Afro, Loiza, Puerto Rico

2023 Nuyorico Presente!, CLLCTV NYC, New York, NY

2022 Abigail Deville: Bronx Heavens (photos from My Beloved Bronx on view via video installation) Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY

2021 Faces of Harlem, New York, NY

2020 #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis, International Center of Photography Museum, New York, NY

2019 DISSplaced: An exhibition dedicated to intersectionality and solidarity, THE POINT CDC, Bronx, NY

2019 Simpson Street Stories, Bronx Culture Trail Festival 2019: retroACTIVO, Bronx, NY

2019 Portraits in the Historic Essex Street Market, The New Essex Street Market, New York, NY

2019 Subete Mujeres, THE POINT CDC, Bronx, NY

2018 Invitational Exhibit by Students of the International Center of Photography, The Belmar Arts Center, Belmar, New Jersey

2018 Signal Crossing: One-Year Certificate Student Exhibition, International Center of Photography School, New York, NY

2017 Saint John’s University Annual BFA Student Exhibition, Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery, Jamaica, NY

2017 EnFoco Presents: The Next Generation of Bronx Photographers, Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx, NY

PUBLICATIONS:

2025 Urban Omnibus, A Tentative Rollout by Thandi Nyambose • April 9, 2025

2024 Urban Omnibus, Living Legend Mariana Mogilevich • Feb 07, 2024

2022 Bloomberg Connects: “City Through Their Eyes” - a series of unique audio guides celebrating the often unheard immigrant, refugee and asylum seeking voices of New Yorkers along Little Amal’s route throughout the city.

2022 Washington Post, Little Amal travels to New York to share a refugee story: The 12-foot-tall puppet represents a Syrian girl who has fled her home because of war. By Lela Nargi • September 19, 2022

2021 #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis, New York

2019 New York Edited: Belonging, Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, Berlin, Germany

2016 Ebony Magazine, Portrait of teen activist Victoria Pannell, New York

PANEL DISCUSSIONS:

2025 CrossBronx / Living Legend - In conversation with photographer and community organizer Roy Baizan

2025 Uptown Rumble: Heavy Music in the Bronx "Femmes to the Front" - In conversation with photographers Michelle Mennona and Destiny Mata and illustrator Daizy Ruiz

2023 Film Screening: Cosmos Gates I - in conversation with artist Abigail DeVille and filmmaker Paul Lieber

2017 The Immigrant's Experience as a Determinant of Family and Community Identity, Global Migration and the Rise of Xenophobic Populism Conference, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) Saint John’s University, Jamaica, NY

CURATIONS:

2025 ICP at THE POINT: Many Mirrors at Photoville Festival. New York co-curated with Tiffany Williams, Leigh Wells, Ariana Sarwari and Kyra Taveras

2024 ICP at THE POINT: Our Stories, Our Light at Photoville Festival. New York co-curated with Tiffany Williams, Lacy Austin and Katerina Voegte

2023 ICP at THE POINT: Beauty in Being at Photoville Festival. New York co-curated with Tiffany Williams, Lacy Austin and Katerina Voegte

2022 ICP at THE POINT: Ready to Rise at Photoville Festival. New York co-curated with Tiffany Williams, Lacy Austin and Katerina Voegtel

2021 ICP at THE POINT: Picturing Sorrow & Joy at Photoville Festival. New York co-curated with Tiffany Williams , Lacy Auston. Isabel Figueroa and Tiffany Williams

2020 ICP at THE POINT: Eyes of Hope at Photoville Festival, New York

co-curated with Lacy Austin and Tiffany Williams.