Central Los Angeles : Design of Chavez Memorial Unveiled for Art Committee

A replica of a monument to union leader Cesar E. Chavez was unveiled Thursday to the public art committee of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission, but panel members held off final approval of the statue until an appropriate site is found for the imposing memorial.

The bigger-than-life bronze monument, designed by Algerian-born artist Khalil Bendib, will consist of three figures: One of Cesar Chavez releasing an eagle, and two anonymous farm workers, an old man and a child, who represent the thousands of laborers who were affected by Chavez’s work.

“We thought this was a unique presentation that needed to be done,” said Magdaleno Rose-Avila, executive director of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation in La Paz, which commissioned the work. “It was a commemoration not just to Cesar, but to the men and women that feed America.”

Bendib, who is donating his work and design, presented the monument before the committee in small prototypes made of plaster. The actual work in bronze will start once the foundation raises the estimated $150,000 needed to finance the project.