Marwencol is a miniature town in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

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. After nine days in a

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

and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp was discharged with

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or 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 t ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

-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 White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted is ...

art gallery.

In media

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

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

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 and starring

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in '' The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where C ...

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

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press is a small press publisher, specializing in books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture, with over 1,000 titles on its backlist. In 2013, it added a line of stationery products, includin ...

, that documents Hogancamp's life and work. It was named one of the best books of 2015 by Amazon.com."Amazon's Best Arts & Photography Books of 2015"
Amazon.com. 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 A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. * Daily Freeman (May 29, 2000)
"Another arrested in bar assault"
'' Daily Freeman''. * 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 a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sullivan ...

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