Maquette for Soledad Solution

Soledad Solution addresses the well-publicized issues surrounding the use of public land for religious displays.  San Diego County hosts a number of prominently displayed crosses which have been placed on public land and situated on the county’s most visible mountain peaks.  The crosses on Mount Soledad and Mount Helix have inspired numerous legal suits stemming from local government’s protection of these sites without regard to the constitutionally mandated separation between church and state. Soledad Solution solves this issue by suggesting an alternative that encourages viewers to look at the cross as something other than a proprietary symbol of Christianity.  By erecting hundreds of crosses on these sites, we make reference to the fact that symbols are imbued with many meanings.  A cross which is generally understood to represent the singular suffering of Jesus is transformed to represent the thousands of Jewish citizens who were crucified during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the first century CE.  The number of crosses erected will be calculated from historical texts that document this period.  It is our wish to lease the land surrounding one of the city’s prominent crosses in order to create this installation.

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