The elusive artist Banksy is known for producing powerful imagery, so it makes sense that more than 100,000 people would share his Instagrammed tribute to those killed in Paris on Wednesday.
Except the artist says it’s not his.
After 12 people were killed Wednesday during a lunchtime attack on the offices of a Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, an illustration was posted on the Instagram account @Banksy, which has about a million followers.
The drawing shows a sharpened pencil with the word “yesterday” written above it, followed by a broken pencil with the word “today” and a final image marked “tomorrow,” with the broken portion of the pencil sharped to create two pencils.
However, a representative for Banksy has denied to The Independent newspaper that the image is his creation, as has been claimed. The caption on the Instagram says “RIP.”
A tag was later added for French illustrator Lucille Clerc, who is based in London.
“We can confirm this is not by Banksy,” the representative said.
Clerc tweeted her tribute to the dead, among whom were several respected political cartoonists, with the caption “Break one, thousand will rise #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie #raiseyourpencilforfreedom.”
It’s just one of many tributes that have appeared on social media as the world reacted in the wake of the shootings.