Marwencol: Documentary Mentioned on WNYC About “Outsider” Photographer

I just heard the tail end of a radio piece on WYNC (from KCRW), The Business, about a new documentary called Marwencol.

It sounds intriguing on many levels, but from a photographer’s standpoint, there is an oddly compelling approach to the well-mined “rephotographic” approach. Distringued from artists such as Lori Nix, et all, it seems there is a therapeutic need for Mark Hogancamp to construct and photograph his fantasy world.

From the film’s site:
“After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs “Marwencol” with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town’s many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark’s homemade therapy is deemed “art”, forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he’s avoided since the attack.”