Tra` Slaughter
(b. 1975, Freeport, TX) Raised in rural South Texas, Slaughter moved to Houston in 2000 to earn his B.A. in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Houston (’02) before pivoting to full-time studio work a decade later.
Slaughter is a multidisciplinary artist whose work lives at the edge of memory, emotional honesty, and human contradiction. Based in Houston, Texas, his practice spans figurative portraiture, abstraction, assemblage, and text-based compositions—often blending them into hauntingly expressive, layered works that explore the fragile intersections of mental health, nostalgia, identity, and the ache of being known.
His paintings are filled with texture and tension: hand-written fragments of poetry, erasures, embedded lyrics, raw symbolism, and emotionally carved brushwork. With every mark, Slaughter creates space for grief, resilience, and the silent weight of internal struggle. His palette often leans dark, his forms distorted yet vulnerable, pulling viewers into intimate dialogues they may not expect but can’t look away from.
Though his materials and techniques shift, one thread remains constant: a relentless pursuit of emotional connection. Slaughter’s work invites you into the middle of a conversation—sometimes gentle, sometimes brutal—but always honest. And for collectors and viewers alike, that truth resonates.
Over the years, his paintings have found homes with collectors worldwide, who connect deeply to his subject matter, many of whom describe his work as “the one piece we couldn’t leave behind.”
His art isn’t made to match your couch.
It’s made to haunt you softly, stay with you long after you’ve walked away.
In the past nine years, he has completed more than 30 murals across Houston, including traffic-box “Mini Murals,” warehouse façades, City Hall murals, private home murals, and civic installations. houstonmuralmap.com.
Gallery highlights include Ao5 Gallery www.ao5gallery.com (Austin).
Reeves Art + Design reevesartgalleryhouston.com (Houston), and numerous self-produced exhibitions supporting mental health advocacy.
In addition to his fine art and murals, Slaughter also recently created a new apparel brand, ‘Word to Your Wardrobe’, with his daughter, Harper. “Slangwear” focused on slang words/phrases from the 80s through the 2020s. They will be officially launching Summer ‘25.
