The newest statue in Buenos Aires is also the most photographed. The statue is of Mafalda, a character from a comic strip created by the Argentine artist Quino. The comic strip is set in Buenos Aires in the late 60s and early 70s. The comic’s namesake is a young girl from a typical middle class family who is naughty, bold and often hilarious. In the character of Mafalda, Quino skillfully used the perspective of a young girl to question and mock the authority of the adults in charge of her world. To the Argentine people she has come to symbolize non-conformity.

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Her statue is located on the corner where Quino used to live, between Chile and Defensa, in neighborhood of San Telmo. This is the same building that the comic strip the characters used to sit in front of while contemplating and issuing their sharp observations about the world around them. Mafalda’s statue is only 80 centimeters high (31″), it features her sitting smilingly on a park bench.

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Why do we love Mafalda so much? Maybe because she hates soup. And because she once said: “Stop the world, I want to get out”!

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