Born in Mexico, Arely Morales moved to Nacogdoches, TX at the age of 14. Morales received her BFA in Painting and Photography from Stephen F Austin State University in 2015 and later received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Washington in 2017. Her work focuses on issues of identity, humanity and invisibility of the Latino immigrant community in the United States. Morales is a 2019 recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and her work has been featured in many group and solo exhibitions including Soy de Tejas: A Statewide Survey of Latinx Art, Centro de Artes, San Antonio, Texas; The United States and Mexico: A Powerful Past, A Shared Future; U.S. Embassy, Mexico City; Día de los Muertos — A Time to Grieve and Remember, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Illinois; and One by One, Art League Houston. Morales’ work was also included in the 2024 Women to Watch exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.