Does a photo of a replica of the Statue of Liberty, purportedly made from the ruins of a Syrian artist's house, confirm that it is real? No, that's not true: The Statue of Liberty replica was made using a computer, creating a photomontage of rubble from a destroyed building in Syria, the artist has said. Also, a Google News search did not yield any credible documents that would back up this claim.
The claim appeared in a post on Facebook (archived here) on May 23, 2023. It read:
A Syrian artist built this with the ruins of his house.
With the slogan: 'This is the Freedom they brought us.'
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed May 29 13:08:44 2024 UTC)
The post does not name the alleged artist, show where the slogan is incorporated into the artwork or prove that this was constructed out of the remains of a home.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on the Google News archive of thousands of reliable information sites, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim (archived here).
A reverse image search (archived here) of the post led Lead Stories to a 2016 Al-Arabiya article that included an interview with the artist of this piece (archived here). Syrian artist Tammam Azzam "reconstructed the Statue of Liberty from the rubble of a destroyed building in Syria" using digital media, according to the article. Azzam pointed out that the statue was a photomontage and made using a computer, not actual rubble, and he did not say the rubble was the "ruins of his home," as the Facebook post suggests.
Lead Stories has contacted Azzam and will update this article if we receive a relevant response.
Other fact check agencies have also reviewed this claim, including Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and PolitiFact.
Other Lead Stories articles about Syria are here.
