In March 2021, the Russian segment of social networks bypassed a bright photograph. The shore of a large river captured on it with its contour greatly resembled a female face. The signature read that before us the Selenga River in Buryatia. We checked whether this is really so.

The image was most popular on Facebook. For example, publication, made on March 19 by a single resident of Buryatia, scored about 8,000 reposts (as of April 23, 2021). It also became quite viral publication The channel "Created by nature" - 2800 reposts.

River Selenga (stress on the last syllable, contrary to the intrusive advertising The financial pyramid of the 1990s) flows through the territory of Mongolia (615 km) and Russia (409 km). Soon after the picture flew up, the first incredulous readers appeared. People asked to inform them of the coordinates of a miracle of nature captured in the frame, since they themselves, having studied the cards, could not find such a thing.

It turned out in parallel that the image began to conquer the rest of the world under the guise of the African River Zambezi. For example, publication One Kenyan user with the corresponding signature gained almost 1000 reposts.

The search for the earliest traces of photography on the Internet brings a somewhat unexpected result. It turns out that this is not a photo at all. At once on two sites dedicated to art - Gallerix And Artonline.ru - We see in front of us a picture made, according to the signature, by acrylic. The author of the work called "Pacification" is St. Petersburg artist Natalya Livitchuk. On both resources, the image was posted in 2016, and according to the second link, the picture can even be purchased.

We contacted Natalia Livitchuk, and this is how she commented on the spring popularity of Selengi-Zambuzi:

“I absolutely do not understand this hype around my work. I wrote it in 2016. I arrived from the cottage, and wanted to portray my attitude to nature and the universe. Convey the state of peace and peace. I could not imagine any specifically region ... I portrayed the river that was at that time in my soul. And this courier suggests that it is very easy to deceive people. ”