CESAR CHAVEZ

Client:  Hispanic Advisory Council / California State University, San Marcos
Location:  San Marcos, CA
Media:  Bronze
Date:  1996

César Chavez was a simple, yet powerful man. A tribute to him had to be simple and powerful. The slightly larger than life-size portrait on the top step of the grand staircase leading up to the César E. Chavez Plaza stands as a powerful figure: proud, persistent, dignified, gentle, yet immovable. The stairs are a metaphor for the hard climb in the struggle for social change and social justice.

The placement of the statue at the top of the staircase makes César Chavez and his ideals the focal point for every person climbing the stairs. He stands as a symbol of great qualities such as responsibility and perseverance in the face of overwhelming circumstances. Added in a line of bronze architectural letters beneath the figure, these ideals would be summed up with César Chavez’s own powerful maxim:  
​“Sí se puede."   ("It can be done.”)

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