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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate major projects. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has background narratives. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover an art space in children’s artwork that express their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. This endeavor began when he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since grown to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from 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 project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and