🔗 Share this article

Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging artists and creatives to resist the ongoing loss of species. “Our task is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Each has stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will engage visitors searching Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a reading will be conducted to commemorate that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and it may inspire a feeling of duty from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to 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 intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project began when he endured multiple occurrences of discrimination on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and