Mo Ganji: Owl-faced Monkey | Eulenaffe | Cercopithecus hamlyni | No. 152/250 from work group 8/99

Owl-faced Monkey | Eulenaffe | Cercopithecus hamlyni

Mo Ganji’s single line engages the owl-faced monkey — a medium-sized primate inhabiting montane and bamboo forests of Central Africa — by letting its inner coherence come forward without emphasis on expression, rarity or nocturnal association. The continuous line gathers a concentrated core of presence, enough to suggest a being while remaining open to meanings beyond the category of “monkey.” In this unveiling of essence, form appears before familiarity or strangeness takes hold.

Cercopithecus hamlyni is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List. The species occurs in a limited region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjacent areas, where it inhabits dense forest at higher elevations. Its populations are naturally sparse and unevenly distributed, making them particularly sensitive to disturbance.

The principal threats include habitat loss from deforestation, hunting for bushmeat, and ongoing political instability that undermines conservation efforts. Because the owl-faced monkey occupies specific forest types and avoids heavily disturbed areas, fragmentation further restricts movement and reduces viable habitat. Limited ecological data also complicates effective protection.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the monkey can be encountered beyond gaze or resemblance. It allows attention to rest on a presence shaped by withdrawal and specificity, suggesting that what appears watchful or alert to us may simply be another form of being, one that continues its quiet existence regardless of whether it is fully seen, named, or understood.