Mark Hogancamp: Women of Marwencol

Limited-edition artwork published by The Esopus Foundation Ltd (2014).

In 2005, Esopus debuted Hogancamp’s photographs of Marwencol, the imaginary town he built to 1/6th- scale in his backyard to help recover —emotionally and physically — from a brutal attack that left him with significant brain damage. Hogancamp populated the town with Barbie dolls and military figurines representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers and began documenting their activities through a series of striking photographs. Esopus subscriber Jeff Malmberg was inspired enough by the piece to make the acclaimed 2010 documentary Marwencol, which brought Hogancamp’s fascinating story to a wider audience. That audience will only expand further with the release of Welcome to Marwen, an upcoming feature film starring Steve Carell and directed by Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis. Hogancamp has continued to photograph Marwencol, and the images featured in this Esopus edition, which I designed for our Premium subscribers in the fall of 2014, depict six of the town’s female inhabitants—ranging from Hogancamp’s mother, Edda, to the “Belgian Goddess of Youth” Deja Vu—whose portraits are reproduced as 27 x 26” posters. They represent some of Hogancamp’s strongest, most beautiful work to date, and exhibit his “uncanny feel for body language, psychology, and stage direction” (Jerry Saltz, The Village Voice). MORE INFO/PURCHASE