Traveon Rogers

African American Studies - Doctoral Student

“Houston-native Traveon Dinell Rogers is a musician, performing artist, photographer and budding filmmaker who draws inspiration from thought-provoking, authentic representations of culture through multimedia content. Armed with a passionate conviction that stages and screens of all sizes are today’s most powerful educational tools, Traveon demonstrates that scholarly endeavors can be explored beyond libraries, lecture halls, and books.

Their interests and artistic ventures are creative as they are intellectual and methodical. While living Mexico, he involved himself with Panafricanistas México and was an associate producer of the short documentary, “Jamaica y Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico,” which has been screened at Harvard University, the San Diego Film Festival, Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City, and Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles. Their debut work, Structures and Waterways, which premiered at the first opening reception of Latin Week Houston in January 2020, is a visual dialogue that explores cultural implications and historical associations through subliminal messaging and photos. Later that year they published a photo essay entitled, “Reflections Beyond the Mirror: Exploring Blackness in Colombia’s Unlikeliest City,” documenting their experiences with Medellin’s black community.

Traveon’s experiences traveling and living abroad have deepened their love for cooking and their culinary arts, which they now view as a powerful medium for expressing the diverse cultural narratives they explore in their work. They are currently focused on the connection between food, visual culture, and storytelling.”