Solomon Souza

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
Born
Solomon Souza-Kohn

1993 (age 29–30)
London
NationalityBritish, Israeli
Known forSpray-painted murals in Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem
StyleStreet art
Spouse
Ayelet Finkelstein
​
(m. 2021)​

Personal life and education

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[11] [12] since February 2021.[3][10]

Largely self-taught, Solomon Souza has worked on murals since he was 14 years old.[3][13]

Mahane Yehuda Market

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.[13] Souza usually completes three murals per night.[13]

Subjects include contemporary and historical figures, including Yossi Banai, Roseanne Barr, Menachem Begin, David Ben-Gurion (painted upside-down),[14] 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][15][14][16] There are nearly one dozen rabbinical portraits, including Mordechai Eliyahu, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Yitzhak Kaduri, Maimonides, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and Ovadia Yosef.[1][13][17] Arab personalities are also represented, including Lucy Aharish, Sheikh Fari al-Jabari of Hebron, Si Ali Sakkat, and the Queen of Sheba.[1][18] Biblical paintings include Moses, Solomon, and panels depicting the seven days of creation.[15][14][13] Some of the early paintings are of the stall owners themselves, or their grandfathers, by personal request.[14][13]

The murals have become an after-hours and Saturday attraction, when stalls are closed and the shutters and metal doors are visible.[1][13]

Other murals

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.[19] Souza created murals of various prominent Goans, past and present.[20]

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'.[21]

Other projects

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.[22]

References
  1. Ghert-Zand, Renee; Tress, Luke (29 February 2016). "Young artist turns Jerusalem's market into gallery of famous faces". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  2. Kalra, Vandana (16 July 2016). "A Market for Faces". The Indian Express. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  3. Corman, Ruth (8 April 2021). "Solomon Souza follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, F.N. Souza". The Jerusalem Post.
  4. Jackson, Milenka (June 1989). "Part 9". Liselotte Souza interviewed by Milenka Jackson. Living Memory of the Jewish Community (Audio recording summary). London: British Library. 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.
  5. Nair, Uma (11 March 2014). "Souza - The Heartless Husband". The Times of India.
  6. Jackson, Milenka (June 1989). "Part 7". Liselotte Souza interviewed by Milenka Jackson. Living Memory of the Jewish Community (Audio recording summary). London: British Library. 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.
  7. Singh, Khushwant (6 May 2006). "A Maverick Painter". The Telegraph (India).
  8. "A morning with F N Souza's daughters". State of the Art. 2 September 2013.
  9. "With $4m art record, Souza sizzles". The Times of India. 18 September 2015.
  10. Cohen, Susan (3 March 2021). "Solomon Souza and Ayelet Finklestein Marry!". The Tzfat Herald.
  11. Tobin, Andrew (25 October 2017). "The latest craze in Israel: pole dancing". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  12. "JPole Team". Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  13. Levi, Sarah (2 December 2015). "The Artist's Temple". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  14. Booth, William (24 May 2016). "Two guys are turning an old Jerusalem market into a portrait gallery of famous Jews". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  15. Sultan, Abir (18 March 2016). "Graffiti art at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  16. Arom, Etan (13 April 2016). "Shuk art: Two 20-somethings are changing the face of a Jerusalem landmark". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  17. Leichman, Abigail Klein (4 May 2015). "Turning the Jerusalem shuk into an art gallery". Israel 21C. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  18. Rabinovitch, Ari (7 March 2016). "Graffiti Artist Turns Gritty Jerusalem Market into Colorful Canvas". Reuters. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  19. Brown, Hannah (3 December 2019). "Shuk street artist Solomon Souza takes his talent to Goa". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  20. Sen Gupta, Aniruddha (13 December 2019). "Solomon Souza is putting his tag on Goa with vibrant murals of local heroes". Business Standard.
  21. Liphshiz, Cnaan (20 January 2020). "Chelsea unveils mural with Jewish soccer players murdered at Auschwitz". The Jerusalem Post.
  22. Berman, Lazar (13 July 2021). "Israeli filmmakers arrested in Nigeria over alleged contact with separatists". The Times of Israel.
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