Australian ecological artist Lisa Roet’s Golden Monkey installations have previously scaled skyscrapers in Beijing and Hong Kong, but this Autumn the sculpture has made its UK debut on the prestigious art gallery.

The sculpture has been installed as part of Inverleith House’s transformation into Climate House, a three-year programme of visual art, drawing attention to our global climate crisis, in partnership with the Serpentine Galleries and funded by Outset Contemporary Art Fund.

The golden snub-nosed monkey is an endangered species found in the frosty, mountainous forests of central and southwestern China.

The installation first appeared on the Melbourne Town Hall in Australia and subsequent versions have decorated The Opposite House hotel in Beijing as part of Beijing Design Week, the Temple House in Chengdu and even hung off the high rise building H-Code in the centre of Hong Kong. Other giant primate sculptures include the Skywalker Gibbon perched on top of the Opposite House with arms dangling over the edge and a ten-metre-tall gorilla named Baboe - currently towering over Apeldoorn Town Hall in the Netherlands.

Lisa Roet’s most recent work, due to be launched on November 24 in Australia, is a chimpanzee called David Greybeard. Her largest sculpture to date, he was created in collaboration with Dr Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Emma Nicolson, head of creative programmes at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said: “We are thrilled to be premiering this important work by Lisa Roet as part of our inaugural season of Climate House. The work is a statement reminding us that we all need to act, and now, to prevent further ecological disaster. I also hope the work gives us, in 2020, a work to see as we spend time outdoors, to reflect upon and with.”

Artist Lisa Roet said: “I’m so excited to see this work come to Scotland, presented in the prestigious Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh sharing the message about sustainability and conservation.

“The Golden Monkey represents the highly endangered snub-nosed monkey found in high altitudes in Yunnan (In fact the Golden Snub Nosed Monkey is the highest living non-human primates on the planet). With its cute, upturned nose, this monkey is revered in Chinese mythology and celebrated globally for its elusive beauty.

“Golden Monkey is the first in a series of my large-scale artworks about Biodiversity. These works are designed to raise awareness about the extinction of species and to address issues associated with increasing urbanisation and habitat destruction. Illegal logging, as in many parts of the world, has posed a major threat to the survival of this rare and beautiful monkey.”