Picture of the Day: Giant Monkey

A giant snub-nosed monkey hanging from H Queens

The other day I was at Tai Kwun, the former Central Police headquarters, and when I looked up, I saw a giant monkey across the street!

Called Golden Monkey, it's a 14-metre tall inflated snub-nosed monkey created by Australian artist Lisa Roet. It was installed in December on the H Queens building and will be there until next month.

Several years ago Roet began a series of works called Extinct Distinct, based on her documentation of some newly discovered yet endangered species of primates.

She says there are many interesting stories associated with snub-nosed monkeys. "Their sneezing snub nose is definitely one of them," Roet says. "They sneeze to get melted ice and rain out of their upturned nose. Before they were discovered, nearby villagers though the sneezing sound was from their sick ancestors. That led scientists traveling in the village to investigate, and they found this new species in Yunnan's high mountains in 20210. Global warming made an impact on its habitat, making it a symbol of changing global weather patterns."

As a result, Roet wants to make large-scale versions of this monkey to place them on skyscrapers in urban centres to highlight the increasing urbanization and co-habitation of urban and nature.