Somos de Aquí y de Allá

This project was started in September 2024 and finished in March 2025 for Montes Duran’s senior thesis show at Pratt Institute.

“Somos de aquí y de allá” translates to “We are from here and there.” Her title is a modification of the well-known Spanish saying “Ni de aquí ni de allá,” meaning “Not from here nor from there.”

This project is dedicated to showcasing the combination of two cultures Latin Americans, first-generation immigrants and individuals with intersecting identities face. Through the use of recognizable imagery and topics frequently faced within her community. Alongside her photographs, she shares writing that speaks on the harder and more emotional side of the experience alongside celebratory, colorful photography.  She photographs in Florida, where she grew up, and New York, where she was originally born and now lives. Latin Americans are always searching for their culture, the one they grew up with because of their parents. Montes Duran states that the society she lives in is different than others, and this project aims to showcase the world through her eyes. She plays with recognizable imagery, hence the recreation of a domestic space; there are a lot of symbols throughout Latin culture that find themselves in America and she gives them a space in her show. Montes Duran is also interested in the ways culture is represented through objects, clothes, and symbols. She finds it interesting the way objects speak when put under a microscope and showcased the way they are in her show.