This image is a photograph created for an art exhibition by a Ukranian photographer

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 17, 2020 at 07:00
2 min read
By AFP Sri Lanka

An image has been shared tens of thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts alongside a claim it shows a teenage girl who died after receiving a "shock" from her earphones as a result of her mobile phone overheating. The claim is false; the image was in fact created by a Ukranian photographer for an artistic series of conceptual photographs.

The image was published here on Facebook on June 2, 2020. It has been shared more than 15,000 times.

Screenshot of the Facebook post

The Sinhala-language text superimposed above the image translates to English as: “This 14-year-old girl, who went to sleep while listening to music from her phone which she kept under the pillow, was found dead by her parents in the morning due to shock to the ear caused by earphones when the overheated phone exploded. It is everyone’s responsibility to be aware and raise awareness.”

The post’s caption reads: “For your attention”.

The image was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here.

The claim is false.

A reverse Google image search found that the image was created by Ukranian photographer Hanna Panchenko for an artistic series. Panchenko published the image on Instagram here on January 8, 2019.

Photograph is featured on Hanna Panchenko's Instagram

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading post’s image (L) and Panchenko’s image (R):

Screenshot comparison of the misleading post’s image (L) and Panchenko’s image (R)

Panchenko said she is in fact the woman posing in the photography.

“I took this photo in January 2019 and it's titled ‘Bloody Music’. This photo was featured in my exhibition last Summer, this was a cameo and I used myself as a model,” she told AFP by email on June 3, 2020.

The image was also featured on Panchenko’s website here:

Photograph featured on Panchenko's website

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail