The sculpture was created by an Indian artist with sand, not clay

This Facebook post, published on June 8, shows an image of a young boy posing next to a sculpture that resembles him. 

The post has been shared more than 7,000 times alongside a Sinhala-language caption, which translates to English as: “Take a look at the kid’s talent”. 

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A screenshot taken on June 17, 2020, of the misleading post by Facebook user Sumith Yasarathna

Translated to English, the Sinhala-language text superimposed on the image states: “Let's appreciate without being petty/This is Supun from Ampara/ Thirteen years old/ A talented sculptor/ Supun has sculpted his own face in his father’s clay mound/ A kid that deserves appreciation”.

Ampara is a town in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. 

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

The claim is false; the image shows a sculpture created by an Indian artist and was made of sand, not clay. 

A reverse image search on Google found the photo published in this Facebook post on June 2, 2020, alongside the caption: “SAND ART today live portrait try”. The photo and another one that shows a close-up shot of the sculpture were posted to Facebook by Sn Art Sadananda, an artist from Orissa, India. 

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Facebook post by South Indian artist S.N. Sadananda

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post (L) and the photo posted by the artist (R):

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Screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post (L) and the photo posted by the artist (R):

In response to an AFP inquiry by Facebook Messenger, Sadanandan said on June 13: “That sculpture is my creation... That particular day I thought of trying out a live portrait work on sand sculpture.”