Illustration of unveiled woman has not been created by Afghan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani
A poignant image of an unveiled girl leading a group of burqa-clad women and reading a book is viral on social media.
By Tejal Sinha
Hyderabad: A poignant image of an unveiled girl leading a group of burqa-clad women and reading a book is viral on social media.
Users claim it is a piece of art created by Afghan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani. Hassani is Afghanistan's first female street artist who tries to portray the plight of Afghan women as they face renewed threats from the Taliban.
(Click here to view more such viral posts being shared on Twitter)
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter firstly performed a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to the website of Clios Awards. We found a similar image on the website captioned, `Questioning Radicalism Campaign: Changing Your Perspective'.
"This 2018 Clio Awards shortlisted entry titled 'Questioning Radicalism' was entered for Reporter Magazine by Y&R Prague. The advertising agency is part of the agency network: Young & Rubicam and holding company: WPP Group. The piece was submitted to the medium: Print within the entry type: Product/Service. It consists of 1 image. This piece is part of a campaign called 'Changing Your Perspective' that consists of 3 elements," the report said.
We then searched for the image on the social media handles of Shamsia Hassani but found none. However, NewsMeter found a tweet by the artist denying drawing this picture.
We lastly compared the viral image and the original image and found that the book in the woman's hand is edited.
It is therefore evident that the viral claim is False. The artwork has not been drawn by Afghan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani.
