After being brutally beaten and hospitalized for over a month, Mark Hogencamp turned to art as a therapeutic tool to overcome the physical and emotional trauma he had sustained. The result was “Marwencol,” a fictional Belgian town stuck in World War II populated by a variety of military figurines and Barbie dolls through which Hogencamp staged epic battles and emotional entanglements.  Art doubles back on life as Hogencamp’s personal photos of Marwencol catch the attention of an art magazine and a New York gallery, an event which might pull him from his financially desperate situation but also blow apart the safety of the intensely personal world he has created. Jeff Malmberg delicately brings us inside this world and offers an engaging look at the curious and creative mind behind it.

Presented as part of the Depth of Field 2012-2013 Series: Still Lives

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