Marwencol is a miniature town in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

created by the American artist Mark Hogancamp. On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked outside of a bar by five men who beat him nearly to death after he drunkenly told them he was a

cross-dresser Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

. After nine days in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp was discharged with

brain damage Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

that left him little memory of his previous life. Unable to afford therapy, he created his own memory by building a -scale

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era Belgian town in his yard and populating it with dolls representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers. He called the town "Marwencol", blending his own name with that of a local bartender Wendy and his neighbor Colleen. Hogancamp was initially discovered by photographer David Naugle, who documented and shared his story with ''Esopus'' magazine, whereby his work was shown in White Columns

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

In media

The film '' Marwencol'' (also known as ''Village of the Dolls'' in the UK) is a 2010 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that explores Hogancamp's life and work. It is the debut feature of director-editor Jeff Malmberg. It was the inspiration for '' Welcome to Marwen'', a 2018 drama directed by

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...

and starring

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

as Hogancamp. ''Welcome to Marwencol'' is a 2015 art book by Hogancamp and Chris Shellen, published by

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press (now PA Press) is a division of Chronicle Books. Founded by Kevin Lippert in 1981 in Princeton, NJ, PA Press has been a leading publisher of books on architecture, design, and visual culture for over forty years, ...

, that documents Hogancamp's life and work. It was named one of the best books of 2015 by

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

."Amazon's Best Arts & Photography Books of 2015"

. Retrieved December 9, 2018.

References

External links

* * Ronson, Jon (October 28, 2015)
"Marwencol: the incredible WWII art project created by a cross-dresser who was beaten up by bigots"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. * Daily Freeman (May 29, 2000)
"Another arrested in bar assault"
''

Daily Freeman The Daily Freeman, published in Kingston, New York, serves as the primary morning newspaper for Ulster County, as well as Greene County, Columbia County and Dutchess County. Established in 1871 under the moniker "Rondout Daily Freeman," the ...

''. * Times Herald-Record (April 11, 2000
"2nd man held in assault that left victim in coma"
''

Times Herald-Record The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is an American daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marwencol Action figures Barbie Kingston, New York Miniature parks Outsider art Scale modeling Works about Belgium World War II in popular culture