Gallery
Upside-down portrait of David Ben-Gurion
(L. to r.) Rabbi Shlomo ben David Lakein, Naomi Shemer, and local storeowner
Local storeowners
Tribute to Operation Magic Carpet
Arab portrait
Imaginative portrait
Solomon Souza | |
|---|---|
| Born | Solomon Souza-Kohn 1993 (age 30–31) London, England |
| Nationality | British, Israeli |
| Known for | Spray-painted murals in Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem |
| Style | Street art |
| Spouse | Ayelet Finkelstein (m. 2021) |
| Relatives | F. N. Souza (grandfather) |
Solomon Souza (born 1993) [1] [2] is a British-Israeli street artist. He is best known for spray painting portraits of contemporary and historical figures on the metal shutters of the Mahane Yehuda Market ("The Shuk") in Jerusalem, turning them into an after-hours attraction. [1]
Solomon Souza was born in London, and grew up in the neighbourhood of Hackney. [1] [3] His mother, British-Israeli painter Karen (Keren) Souza-Kohn, [4] is one of the three daughters of the Goan artist F. N. Souza, [5] and Czech Jewish actress Liselotte Kristian (née Kohn). [6] [7] [8] (His grandfather F. N. Souza's bestselling 1955 painting Birth depicts his grandmother Liselotte posing while pregnant with his mother Keren. [7] [9] )
His younger sister Miriam is a filmmaker. [3] [10] He has been married to Ayelet Finkelstein since February 2021. [3] [10]
Largely self-taught, Solomon Souza has worked on murals since he was 14 years old. [3] [11]
As of July 2018, Souza had painted more than 250 of the 360 shutters in the market. [1] [2] Each painting takes two to four hours to complete. [11] Souza usually completes three murals per night. [11]
Subjects include contemporary and historical figures, including Yossi Banai, Roseanne Barr, Menachem Begin, David Ben-Gurion (painted upside-down), [12] Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Meyer Lansky, Emma Lazarus, Bob Marley, Matisyahu, Golda Meir, Moses Montefiore, Dona Gracia Nasi, Daniel Pearl, Jonathan Pollard, Naomi Shemer, Steven Spielberg, Hannah Szenes, Henrietta Szold, and Bracha Zefira. [1] [13] [12] [14] There are nearly one dozen rabbinical portraits, including Mordechai Eliyahu, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Yitzhak Kaduri, Maimonides, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and Ovadia Yosef. [1] [11] [15] Arab personalities are also represented, including Lucy Aharish, Sheikh Fari al-Jabari of Hebron, Si Ali Sakkat, and the Queen of Sheba. [1] [16] Biblical paintings include Moses, Solomon, and panels depicting the seven days of creation. [13] [12] [11] Some of the early paintings are of the stall owners themselves, or their grandfathers, by personal request. [12] [11]
The murals have become an after-hours and Saturday attraction, when stalls are closed and the shutters and metal doors are visible. [1] [11]
Solomon Souza was invited in 2019 by Vivek Menezes, the special projects curator for the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, India to do a similar art project there. [17] Souza created murals of various prominent Goans, past and present. [18]
In January 2020, Chelsea FC unveiled a mural by Solomon Souza on an outside wall of the West Stand at Stamford Bridge stadium. The mural is part of Chelsea's 'Say No to Antisemitism' campaign funded by club owner Roman Abramovich. Included on the mural are depictions of footballers Julius Hirsch and Árpád Weisz, who were killed at Auschwitz concentration camp, and Ron Jones, a British prisoner of war known as the 'Goalkeeper of Auschwitz'. [19]
In July 2021, Zionist activist Rudy Rochman and two other Israelis presented a Torah scroll, with its cover designed by Solomon Souza, to an Igbo Jewish community in Nigeria just before the three Israelis were arrested by the Nigerian police. [20]
"Jerusalem of Gold" is an Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer. Often contrasted with the official anthem Hatikva, the original song described the Jewish people's 2,000-year longing to return to Jerusalem. Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate the liberation of East Jerusalem and the ancient holy city's unification.
Yosef "Yossi" Banai was a singer, actor in film and theater, songwriter, comedian, lyricist, and Israeli theater director. He was awarded the Israel Prize for Theater in 1998 and the Israeli Theater Award in 2004. Banai is considered one of the greatest performing artists in Israel.
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Mahane Yehuda Market, often referred to as "The Shuk", is a marketplace in Jerusalem. Popular with locals and tourists alike, the market's more than 250 vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables; baked goods; fish, meat and cheeses; nuts, seeds, and spices; wines and liquors; clothing and shoes; and housewares, textiles, and Judaica.
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Her other daughter Karen is lesbian. She has had many stormy and violent relationships. She finally has been settled for six years in stable relationship. She also took art training and has been successful.
Francis continued with the violence and threats, he tried to deprive her first of home, then of the three girls. He turned off her water supply. She tried to adopt her three girls (she never married Francis) to keep them safe with her. Camden Council prevented her; Anya was in care of the Mental Health Act because of Down's Syndrome. Francis refused his permission for her to adopt.
