Nelson Morales focuses on sexual diversity in different cultures—mainly the community of muxe, a third gender—on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, part of the state of Oaxaca. Morales was a student of three leaders of contemporary photography in Mexico: Antoine D’Agata, Juan Antonio Molina, and Javier Ramírez Limón. Morales earned a BA in communication at Universidad José Vasconcelos. His work has been exhibited in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, Spain, and The Netherlands and is in the collections of Televisa Foundation, Nail Hollis, and Foam. Morales is a recipient of the 2015–16 Young Creators Fellowship of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA).
Morales’s residency is presented by Bank of America, and generously supported by the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund, and Sandy Berlin.