Italian Spaghetti Lady

St. Louis, Missouri

A statue of a heroic-size woman with a dazed expression and leopard spots on her skin stands behind a chain link fence in a yard. Her sculptor, Gary Mitchell, lives in the brick building next door. Mitchell, who a sign on the fence refers to as "Mitchellini," officially named the sculpture "Damsel in Distress." Everyone else calls her "Italian Spaghetti Lady" -- perhaps because she's across the street from an Italian sausage company, or because her skin has the red and green hues of the Italian flag, or because people see the "Mitchellini" sign and think that he must be from Italy. She's been standing here since 2016.