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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the initiative may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. Each has produced imagery, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

Within the city, one artist’s Book of Loss will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a reading will be performed to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill an art space in children’s artwork that express their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to represent a local symbol. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project began when he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – 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 negative trait,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and