Lisa Roet’s radiant Golden Monkey sculpture takes the form of the endangered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey with its distinct upturned face and long tail. The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey was allegedly discovered in 2010 when heard sneezing. One of the primates defining characteristics is its tendency to sneeze when rain lands in its mutated nose — a result of thousands of years of evolutionary ‘biomorphism’ caused by global warming. Future generations of the critically endangered monkey are at risk due to deforestation of their habitat. In the metropolitan Ballarat City setting, Roet’s imitation monkey installation and accompanying non-fungible digital imagery, contrast urban and natural environmental concerns and draw our attention to the critical reality of species extinction.

Main image: Lisa Roet, Golden Monkey, Edinburgh, 2016