Abigail Montes is a documentary photographer, educator and youth arts coordinator from the South Bronx. She graduated from LaGuardia Community College in 2002 with an AAS in Commercial Photography. Since 2013, she has worked with various initiatives amplifying youth voices through photography. In 2018 she completed the Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism One-Year Certificate Program at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and was awarded the Documentary Arts Fellowship. In 2019 Montes became the Co-Coordinator and Lab Manager of ICP at THE POINT, a youth photo program based in the neighborhood where she grew up and centers her documentary practice. In 2021 she earned a BFA in Photography from Saint John’s University.
Montes is a lead instructor for ICP’s Community Programs, teaching the fundamentals of photography with social justice, self-esteem, community and collaboration as thematic anchors. She aspires to expand her passion for youth-centered photo-based programming in her father’s hometown of Yauco, Puerto Rico and investigate her family’s connection to the land there.