A photo of an art installation to raise awareness about the rampant killing of sharks is being shared online with a fake claim that a restaurant in China was serving soup made of body parts of human infants.
BOOM found the claim to be false and found that the photo shows an art installation by an artist in the United States
The photo of the said bowl of soup with baby feet and hands, was shared on Twitter by a user in a video with an audio in Mandarin. The Twitter user claimed that the audio in Mandarin says, "Voice in Chinese mandarin translated!!! This is a restaurant in China,human now start to eat human babies, there are two restaurants serving human baby soup, this is a 5 to 6 month old baby"
The video is one of the several racists social media posts targettng people from China, following the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19, in many countries.
The virus was first reported in the Wuhan province of China, in a local sea food market - leading to a complete lockdown of the region. In India too, more than 600 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 13 patients have died of the same. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recenetly announced a 21-day lockdown in India till April 14.
NOTE: The following visuals are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
Voice in Chinese mandarin translated !!!
— Bakk Jozsef (@JozsefBakk) March 23, 2020
This is a restaurant in China , human now start to eat human babies, there are two restaurants serving human baby soup, this is a 5 to 6 month old baby 👶 ...😱 pic.twitter.com/GLJBZrMsod
FACT CHECK
BOOM broke the video into keyframes and found the same image uploaded on YouTube on Aug 2019 with the title, 'Let's Eat Exhibition - A Food Themed Art Exhibition at Giant Robot Store.
At the 30 second counter in the video, one can spot the image as in the viral post.
According to the description, the video was from an food inspired and themed art show held at the Giant Robot store in Los Angeles in USA. BOOM went through the website of the Giant Robot store and found that it routinely holds art exhibitions. They held the Let's Eat Group Exhibition in 2019 showing from August 24-September 11, 2019.
BOOM further searched for the Giant Robot store and the hashtag Let'sEat and found an Instagram post with the same viral photo. The photo was shared by artist Colin Christian, who created the said art piece.
In his post, Christian has uploaded a video with the same inedible art installation resembling a bowl of soup. In the same, the artist describes the piece as 'Shark Fin Soup' from his 'What I see' series.
In his Instagram post, the artist describes his creation as, "I did this piece to help raise awareness on the millions of sharks killed all over the planet for bowls of stupid soup." He goes on to throw light over the killing of sharks so people can consume shark meat, a delicacy in many regions. He explains, "....tens of millions of bowls are eaten, creating a worldwide demand for shark fins, this has to stop. Education and information on the plight of the ocean's top predator must be a priority to stop this sickening and hugely damaging trade."