Just off campus, there’s a two-story home known on West 37th Street as “Mama’s Mansion,” named long before any of its 10 residents signed their lease. Around the back, on a recent Sunday in the spacious parking area affectionately nicknamed “tiny lot,” late-afternoon sunshine showered a buzzing crowd of visitors as they listened to the acoustic strummings of student performers reverberate against the brick walls.
On April 2, three “Mama’s Mansion” housemates put on the second installment of “Mama’s Triptych,” a three-part art exhibition consisting of an array of student vendors, a lineup of student musicians and a showcase of student dancers. The event was a collaborative effort between the Media Arts and Practice (MA+P) organization ZAP SC, the USC Songwriter’s Forum and USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance students, all culminating in two hours of multi-platform art appreciation. Students were able to attend free of charge and could pay five dollars to watch the dance performances.
“The whole thing was about community, the incredible art that we have created and the unity that we can have with all of our art,” said Jazmin Polido, a literary editing and publishing master’s student and event organizer. “We wanted to showcase all of it at once and have it all be layered together and connected.”
The idea for “Mama’s Triptych” was born when senior dance BFA student Haily Foster was brainstorming proposals for her thesis capstone project. Her vision was to create an immersive showcase where different dance scenes would take place in different rooms in a house, she said, to keep the audience up, moving and engaged.
“You are choosing your own adventure. You’re able to watch something for 15 minutes or for 15 seconds, and it’s up to you to decide what your experience is,” Foster said. “When you’re like a foot away from the performer, you can see more closely what story they’re trying to tell.”
Senior media arts and practice major Karen Abe long had dreams to host an art exhibition in their back lot and Polido wanted to host a live music event to promote her club’s semester project. Last year, the three housemates merged their ideas to create “Mama’s Triptych.”
The exhibition’s first installment was last spring, what Abe referred to as a “trial run” of sorts. The three organizers had fewer resources and manpower at their service, keeping the event and staff mostly within their close group of friends. This year, they branched out and recruited the help of their peers from each of their artistic niches.
“All three of us wanted to step up our game,” Abe said. “For the whole exhibition, we wanted to have a more cohesive storyline through all three portions.”
Introspection was the theme of the night. Attendees were encouraged to think about who they really were compared to what others around them perceived them as Foster said. A piece of paper was taped on one of the brick walls enclosing the backlot with the question “What do you wish people knew about you?” written across it. Throughout the evening, guests and staff alike scribbled their answers on sticky notes and pasted it on the wall, accumulating a colorful collection of people’s inner musings.
“It’s this question that we don’t have an answer to and it’s something that I think is interesting to be comfortable with, not understanding and not knowing how other people see us,” Foster said. “Investigating how people could see us allows us to also understand more about ourselves.”
The theme carried into the indoor dance performance, titled “Janus.” Despite spearheading the preparation, Foster didn’t choreograph a single move performed at the exhibition. The Kaufman dancers improvised instead. Individuals involved in organizing the event recorded vulnerable voice memos anonymously answering questions about self-perception which Foster compiled and layered into a musical composition for the dancers.
To prepare for Mama’s Triptych, Foster would host weekly conversations with the dancers to get them thinking about what story they wanted to tell. She supplied prompts for them to write out their thoughts, creating a framework for their performance rather than explicit instructions on what they should do.
“I just wanted it to be more of a rehearsal process where we broke down some of the walls that we have,” Foster said. “I didn’t want it to just be about my story. I wanted everyone’s voice to be equal to my own, and to position myself as just a creative curator.”
Another dimension of “Janus” was the visual effects and art created by ZAP SC. The club is composed of media arts and practice students of all grade levels who all volunteered to create components for the event, including a large canvas frame around the music performance space that emulated an old-school TV.
“It was really cool because I was able to get multiple brains put together to develop the visual identity of this event through the posters and Instagram presence,” Abe said. “I had people who were really interested in art direction and graphic design so it was very hands-on-deck.”
ZAP was also in charge of securing vendors to set up shop at the event. Attendees could buy iced lattes from Cup of Troy. They could peruse stickers, second-hand clothes and hand-made pottery from small businesses run by students and alumni.
Lou Lundine graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts last year, and although they work full-time as a theater draftsman, they also sell handmade jewelry on the side. Mama’s Triptych was their first market.
“This is an opportunity for me to find out if people like my stuff and will buy them,” Lundine said. “Maybe I can start selling at flea markets and expand my side hustle.”
As guests decorated a Mama’s Triptych tote bag with stamps and spray paint, live music filled the lot. The USC Songwriter’s Forum provides performance opportunities for music creators across campus. Last year, Polido relied on the organization’s equipment and resources to set up the event. This time around, Polido extended a wider net in their search for performers.
“I got to invite whoever I wanted, people that I love and adored, whether or not they were in the Songwriter’s Forum,” Polido said. I wanted to give them the opportunity to showcase their hard work and their immense talent.”
Groups like UnderSCore A Capella and Band Kori took to the mic. Many soloists also performed their original music in front of the assembled crowd. Junior business administration major Chloe Nicole Cruz sang three songs accompanied by her ukulele for her set, sticking around after to cheer on her fellow musicians.
“I’m still very low-key about my music, and it’s been awesome having these opportunities to perform and share something that I used to think was just for myself and realize people also connect with me in that way,” Cruz said.
A semester’s worth of work wrapped up in just two hours. Over 60 guests visited the intersection of the three different groups, taking home thrifted clothes, a new artist to listen to or maybe a new perception of themselves.
“Collaboration adds such a special value to art,” said Angela Liu, a senior studying economics and international relations global business that attended the event. “Everything coming together like this just enhances its beauty and creates a sense of community.”
For the three organizers, all graduating next month, Mama’s Triptych tied the bow on their college experience. Planning the event was a lesson in collaboration and leadership, Abe said, but it was as exciting as it was challenging.
“It almost felt wrong to have there be a product because the process itself was so beautiful,” Foster said. “Every meeting that we had was so rich and full of information and it was really hard to take weeks and just put it into one scene in one story.”
Abe, Polido and Foster want to possibly continue the pattern of trios and host a third and last exhibition in the future, whenever and wherever their paths cross again.
“I’m going to be stepping into it with a lot more of an understanding of what my creative voice is, how I like to go about my process,” Foster said. “I think what’s exciting is I really don’t know what it’ll be, and I think that’s just going to come with time.”