Famous people gather after hours at popular market

Daylight hours are not the only time when the bustling Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem is bursting with color. At night, when the shops close and roll down their shutters, a new life emerges.

With the stealth of Banksy, 22-year-old British graffiti artist Solomon Souza works through the night and spray paints famous people's visages onto the metal shutters with the help of his 26-year-old friend Berel Hahn from Brooklyn. People like Albert Einstein, Bob Marley and Mahatma Gandhi are all represented.

As for the woman in the photo above, which celebrity is she? "It's my grandmother, Liselotte Souza Kohn" Souza told From The Grapevine. "She was an actress from Czechoslovakia." He pauses before adding: "Not every one I have painted is 'famous,' although maybe they should be."

Albert Einstein takes the center spot in this row of famous people painted by Souza. (Photo: Courtesy photo)

The two get permission from the shopkeepers before they paint. Some of them have even chipped in to help pay for the spray paint.

"We decided to turn it into a gallery of art of historical and inspirational characters," Souza said. "We chose to paint people because behind every person is a story."

Their project has been going on now for more than a year and their goal is to eventually paint all 360 of the market's shutters. They're about halfway done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjaRsG1mwmU