Vámonos Pa’l Monte

Vámonos Pa’l Monte is an interdisciplinary public art and engagement project conceived by renowned artist Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, costume designer Kristina Tollefson, and Mural Arts Philadelphia; a living tribute to Puerto Rican culture, resilience, and the migration stories that shape communities across the diaspora. The project is shaped by the artist’s lived experience of cultural inheritance, fragmentation, reassembly, and belonging, as well as a year of dialogue and co-creation with residents, artists, and cultural workers in Norris Square, a neighborhood long at the heart of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican population, and in Puerto Rico.

Throughout 2026, project curator Marángeli Mejía-Rabell will lead a series of public programs and artist residency events in Norris Square and across Philadelphia, inviting broader participation from the public. A culminating four-mile processional performance and neighborhood celebration in fall 2026 will shift the city’s Semiquincentennial gaze toward the collective voice of a tightly knit community whose histories and traditions embody and articulate an inclusive vision of freedom. The processional route through Philadelphia will chart a course that moves from civic and colonial symbolism to neighborhood-centered, communal affirmation.

Vámonos Pa’l Monte is about diaspora and inheritance: what one receives, loses, invents, and passes on to the next generation. In this spirit, Raimundi-Ortiz’s custom wardrobe, designed by Tollefson, will draw from Puerto Rico’s landscapes, ecology, history, and regional motifs, weaving these images and themes with Philadelphia’s colonial and modern-day histories. The wardrobe will also incorporate objects that hold personal and cultural meaning, carried forward throughout generations and reshaped by the experience of migration. A culminating film developed by filmmaker Jon Kaufman, will capture the artists’ and participants’ creative journey throughout the life of the project, for release in winter 2026/2027.

At its core, Vámonos Pa’l Monte is a homecoming in motion and a journey to el monte, the symbolic mountaintop. It is an offering of culture and remembrance, and an open invitation to walk together toward a shared future.

Spanish translation coming soon. / Traducción al español próximamente.

About the Name:

The title Vámonos Pa’l Monte (“Let’s go to the mountains”) is inspired by the classic salsa track of the same name, by legendary composer and pianist Eddie Palmieri. The song is an anthem and a love letter to life in the hills of Puerto Rico, and an invitation for folks to join the journey.

The mountains of Puerto Rico served as a refuge for those evading capture by invaders, offering shelter through rugged terrain and high altitude. The mountains are where Nationalists stood their ground and were brutally massacred while fighting for sovereignty. For the artist, the mountains of Puerto Rico are a sanctuary; a place to replenish, regroup, strategize and resist.

Artist Statement:

“Back in my studio after a trip to Puerto Rico in 2023, I mined the hundreds of photographs I took of the island: the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the beaches. Putting the photos aside and attempting to draw these images from memory created an opportunity to record the fallibility and slippage of memory and distance, while simultaneously reliving the experience as translated through my fingertips to better understand the land of my parents.

“I began this work with the driving force of deepening my knowledge of Puerto Rico’s landscape so I can provide a more authentic transfer of information to my child. I built a body of large drawings that I titled in a deliberate sequence of titles, each alluding to my growing agency with the island: Quiero Ir Pa’l Monte (“I want to go to the mountains”); Llevame Pa’l Monte (“Take me to the mountains”); Vámonos Pa’l Monte (“Let’s go to the mountains”).

“Building on Exodus | Pilgrimage [a 2019 performance piece in Orlando, FL, honoring those displaced by Hurricane María], Vámonos Pa’l Monte is an invitation for the DiaspoRicans of Philadelphia to join me in a symbolic return to our motherland as we travel from the urban center of City Hall, across the ocean, through the forest, and arriving in Norris Square, to our El Monte.”

More About Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz:

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work pulls from 17th- and 18th-century European portraiture, comic books, sketch comedy, folkloric dance, and installation to address race, bias, trauma, and healing. Her work has been featured in venues such as The Momentary, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, Garage Museum Moscow, Orlando Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; and at the Manifesta and Performa biennials. Numerous media outlets have covered her work, including Art in America, ArtNews, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She earned her MFA from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Art and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She currently serves as a board member for the College Art Association where she’s committed to considering art as scholarship.

More About Kristina Tollefson:

Kristina Tollefson is a theatrical costume designer and builder whose work is rooted in artistic and intellectual collaboration to support all forms of storytelling through costume and environment. She is Professor of Theatre and Resident Costume Designer at the University of Central Florida in Orlando and a proud member of United Scenic Artists 829. Her work can be viewed at tollefsondesigns.com.

Project Team, Funders & Partners:

Vámonos Pa’l Monte‘s creative team includes Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz (lead artist), Kristina Tollefson (costume designer), Marángeli Mejía-Rabell (curator), Jon Kaufman (filmmaker), and Anna Drozdowski (producer). Major support for Vámonos Pa’l Monte has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the William Penn Foundation and Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts. Project partners include Taller Puertorriqueño and Norris Square Neighborhood Project.

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