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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final major projects. Recognized for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of species. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (researching the backgrounds of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring an art institution on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to honor that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from regional food. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. The project commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and