A new mural of former US first lady Michelle Obama depicting her as an Egyptian queen and painted on a building in the Chicago neighborhood where she lived as a child has courted controversy.
Shortly after Chicago artist Chris Devins finished the mural last Friday, criticism began bubbling up online.
People accused him of copying the image from Rhode Island art student Gelila Mesfin, who had posted a nearly identical portrait of Michelle on Instagram last year, CNN reported.
News of the mural's existence came as a huge surprise to Mesfin, too.
"How can you just steal someone's artwork... Someone's hard work and claim it like it's yours..." she wrote Saturday in an Instagram post.
Mesfin said, "It's one thing to share or even profit from someone's work but to claim it as yours is just wrong!"
Devins has denied any wrongdoing. He said he did not know who Mesfin was prior to last week and only learned of her artwork after someone on Instagram notified him of her accusations.
"I credited Ms. Mesfin for her work immediately. I've taken the heat and will gladly do so as long as the kids have a mural they can look up to," he said.
The mural is on a building a few blocks from where Michelle Obama grew up.
Devins said he got the idea for the mural from an image he found on Pinterest that depicted the 53-year-old former first lady as an Egyptian queen. He said he did not know where it had originated.
Devins, who calls himself an urban planner as well as an artist, is known for painting large outdoor murals and installations around Chicago.
He said he chose the mural's location -- across the street from an elementary school Michelle Obama once attended on the city's South Side -- because "I wanted a mural that would serve as an inspiration for the young ladies on Chicago's South Side and young ladies everywhere."
Devins launched a GoFundMe page and raised nearly USD 12,000 before completing the mural.
In recent days he has been careful to credit Mesfin in all his social media posts, CNN reported.
In a statement posted on her social media accounts, Mesfin said she has been in contact with Devins in hopes of resolving the issue "in a professional manner."
"I only ask that everyone keep this positive towards him; I preach love, not anger or hate of any kind," she added.
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