A "migrant" who documented his journey from Senegal to Spain has turned out to be a fake.
Abdo Diouf posted a series of photos on the Instagram account @abdoudiouf1993, which showed the various stages of his journey and gained worldwide attention.
The selfies purported to show Diouf on his journey as his left his native Dakar to find a better life. But the man is actually an actor called Hagi Toure and the pictures are part of a campaign to promote a photography festival in Spain.
The series of Instragram pictures began last week and quickly attracted more than 8,000 followers and global media attention.
Spanish production company Volga had been hired by the festival to produce a series of videos and images to promote the event and raise questions about the use of photography in today's society.
Oriol Caba, of Volga, said they were surprised the images garnered so much attention.
“We were shocked to see it published on the Huffington Post and to see other media organizations follow it up,” he told TIME.
“In developed countries, there’s a use of the self-image that is not common to other parts of the globe,” Caba said.
“[We wanted] to show how the banality of the treatment of the self-image could be used to produce an image of the self but in a very different context, like the dangerous and traumatic trips people embark on to get a better life.
"We thought it was strong and powerful enough to make a statement and to raise questions.”
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