The “Smut Shack Palace Girl” is a larger‑than‑life papier‑mâché statue that stood atop an adult arcade on Virginia Street for decades. For Mallory, growing up, she was the only feminine form on the Reno skyline—curved, bejeweled, proud, “zero fucks.” The statue later revealed herself to be Evelyn Primm, the second wife of the Primadonna casino’s owner: a Hall of Fame trapshooter, a glider pilot, and a mother. Lyndsey’s anthropological research unearthed Evelyn’s biography, transforming a nameless beauty into a complex, strong, and pioneering figure.
​
The Dreamer archetype’s goal is to be happy and to enjoy paradise—a simple aim made radical by a culture that punishes visibility and shrinks those who take up space. The shadow, the Defeatist, is the internalized voice that says the spotlight is unsafe. The work includes a reconstructed dressing room (with vintage perfume and looping archival footage), a photo series titled Evelyn’s Day Out, and Mallory’s diptych painting pairing the statue with her own six‑year‑old ballet photograph—the moment before she learned to shrink.