Culturally relevant design is at the heart of my practice. With a foundation in graphic design and interdisciplinary research, I view design as more than visual communication; it is a system that shapes perception, controls narrative, and influences how we understand identity, history, and power.
Education
2025-27 Masters of Fine Arts – Design
Rutgers University (RU), Mason Gross School of Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2018 Bachelor of Fine Arts
Austin Peay State University (APSU), Clarksville, TN
Employment
Teaching Assistant at Rutger’s University
Facilitate the development of emerging
designers through technical instruction in Adobe Creative Suite and
critical mentorship during the transition from conceptual research to
professional exhibition.
Clients
Gaza Funds
Lambda Literary
Asian American Writer’s Workshop
Renascence Books
Skills
Illustration
Collage
Adobe Suite
Meeting Facilitation
Website Support
HTML Coding
E-commerce
SquareSpace
WordPress
Figma
Publicity
Editorial
Canva
META apps
Processing
Social Media Management
Selected Exhibitions
2025 Contributor to Instigator’s Handbook, curated by Alice Yard, Kochi Biennale, Kerala, India
2024 Queering Democracy, juried exhibition, Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo), Rochester, NY
Watermelon Seeds, Begonia Laboratory, Engine for Arts, Democracy, and Justice (EADJ), Nashville, TN
2022 We Are Sorry to Inform You That, Adele Jarrar + MNFA, Amman, Jordan
Awards
2024–25 National Leaders of Color Fellowship 2024-25, selected by South Arts, “a nonprofit regional arts organization empowering artists,” Atlanta, GA. Curated by Creative West, Denver Colorado
2024 Nominated and awarded for Press On Southern Movement Media Fund
Press
2025 Michael Hambouz and Ali El-Chaer Strike a Balance in Gazala Projects Exhibition, Matter News, Dayton, OH
Random Sample Gazette, Random Sample, Nashville, TN
2024 A Space for Collective Grieving and Solidarity in Nashville, Nashville Banner, Nashville, TN
Begonia Labs Is a Safe Space for ‘Watermelon Seeds’, Nashville Scene, Nashville, TN
2023 International Waters, Moyé Magazine, South Africa, Johannesburg
2022 Issue No. 9, The Hen Collective, Edinburgh, UK
Ali El-Chaeralielchaerart@gmail.com | https://linktr.ee/AlielchaerartTextLambda Literary
2025
The cover of this book was inspired by a conversation with Holly Zhou, editor of the Emerge Anthology, and Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. Both Zhou and I felt that geese were perfect for this cover due to all the complexities they hold, their bad press about aggression, the way people avoid walking near them, and yet they are unmistakable for their color and elegance.
Mary Oliver writes in Wild Geese, "Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination..." I wanted the goose in this illustration to imagine itself as something else, potentially a fish that, while they are all similar in character, have slightly different patterns. When we are in our small lives, we may often wonder when our season to change will come; if we will ever leave ourselves to go to a new home or family, just as the goose may migrate during the harshest seasons and find itself again, perhaps next season as a fish.
Emergence, to me, is something that is a little understated and a bit like longing, rather than a bursting outward expression of self-acceptance. It seemed to me that it was something we long for and accept before we ever manifest it.
22023 2ij3rbfn ewbhr
od wallpapers or screen doors.Text
walls is mini-series using Adobe Illustrator, using simple words like
“life” or “nu-uh”Text walls is mini-series using Adobe Illustrator, using simple words like “life” or “nu-uh” to build a wall. These are reminisent of childhood wallpapers, screens doors, and buffers of different frustrations through liTwalls is mini-series using Adobe Illustrator, using simple words like “life” or “nu-uh” to build a wall. These are reminisent of childhood wallpapers, screens doors, and buffers of different frustrations through life. By rendering these domestic memories as rigid, typographic "walls," the series explores how childhood comforts can evolve into the linguistic buffers we use to navigate adult frustration and emotional stagnation.