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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Famed for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting global challenges from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its impact can still be observed in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is restaging it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the key participants participating now are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted 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 check the packaging and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through an art institution on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using regional food. In another city, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he faced several events of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and