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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of living beings. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in movements like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their methods. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and geography (researching the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

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

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Each has stories behind them. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s Book of Loss will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and