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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final significant endeavors. Known for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging artists and creatives to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its impact can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and origins (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see the variety and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s project on disappearance will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be hosting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that express their hopes and fears for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a feeling of duty from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is planning to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he experienced several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and