ALEXANDRA DUPARC
dialogue with treehouse artists
Who are you and what made you that?
Well, I’m Alexandra Duparc now. My last name was “Wisner” only a few months ago. I guess getting married does that you. What made me? The flash-answer I thought of was the fairy story. The short version is that when I was around five years old, I had convinced a group of girls that some old lady had died and left behind fairies in a tree on the school grounds for us to take care of. They believed me. We took care of them every single day at lunch.
I think that made me into who I am because I that’s when I realized that I could convince people of illusions.
What have you been working on recently?
I’ve been a musician since I was twelve. There wasn’t a day I didn’t work on music from twelve to twenty three years old. At twenty three, because of unfortunate body circumstances, I couldn’t physically make or play music and as a result I started reflecting on art. I realized I wanted to give back to it by starting what we now call Treehouse. Since starting Treehouse, I almost took a hiatus with releasing music up until this last year. I recorded a song that I’m very proud of and I’m going to release it soon. On top of that, I’ve been co-writing a feature film about my brother, a litigator, that just won a 290 million dollar case against Monsanto. I never thought that I would write a true life, legal thriller but here I am. [laughs] I love trivial emotions and basic human shit so much but I was so inspired by his actions against such an oppressive part of this world that I felt it my duty to get this story out there. The script is done and with an agent who is now shopping it to production companies.
And, of course and forever, putting on Treehouse events.
What self-resistance do you run into as an artist?
For the longest time, I thought that my obsession with human emotions was a problem. I thought - just like that unfortunate friend in high school who always asked “why are you so sensitive?”, that the whole world felt that way. I had a fear that such raw honesty would be frowned upon but after some sifting out some of the wrong people in my life, I got over that. Now, I have graduated into this new level of resistance: the quality of that honesty.
Why do you make music? What’s the point?
I’ve asked myself this many times. Music is a language and it’s a universal language.
I’ve had a hard time being a human being, just basic human existence and I think the only thing that has gotten me through that has been creating my own universe. Music and art have been the most natural way to do that.
What role does art have in society?
I think art is a mirror and I think that that mirror defuses problems we face as human beings.
What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you and did you use it drive your art?
Well, I got very sick when I was twenty three and it was to a point where I could not physically make art. I would try to sing and I couldn’t get past a minute of a song. I would try to lay out an idea and I could not focus long enough to get to the other side. This was a one - two year experience and at the end of it, I ended up writing an album called To Be Alive because I wasn’t sure I was going to be.
So, apparently, yes, I have.
What about the best thing?
I guess the best thing that’s ever happened to me was my husband as he’s naturally fixed all the broken parts of me as an artist which had been invalidated heavily by some of those I had loved before. I don’t even think he knows that he did this. As a result of his love, I know I can create and do anything.