Nearly a decade ago, Esopus debuted Mark 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. He began documenting their activities through striking photographs. Hogancamp has continued to photograph Marwencol. The images featured in this Esopus edition, which depict a number of the town’s female inhabitants—ranging from Hogancamp’s mother, Edda, to the “Belgian Goddess of Youth,” Deja Vu—represent some of his strongest and most beautiful work to date, and exhibit his “uncanny feel for body language, psychology, and stage direction” (Jerry Saltz, The Village Voice). In 2014, the exhibition Women of Marwencol at Pioneer Works Center for Arts featured large-scale prints of the images reproduced in the Esopus edition, along with other photographs curated by Janet Hicks, director of One Mile Gallery in Kingston, New York. These images include early works documenting the town’s origins and brand-new photographs by Hogancamp featuring life-size mannequins.

Carpenter, navy veteran, and former showroom designer Mark Hogancamp is an artist based in Kingston, NY. His work was first seen by the public in Esopus 5 and then reached a broader audience through Esopus subscriber Jeff Malmberg's award-winning 2010 documentary Marwencol. Hogancamp has been featured in many one-person exhibitions, including three curated by Esopus editor Tod Lippy at WhiteThe public first saw his work Columns, NY (2006), Esopus Space, NY (2010), and Pioneer Works, Brooklyn (2014). Welcome to Marwen, a feature film about Hogancamp starring Steve Carell and directed by Robert Zemeckis, was released in the fall of 2018.