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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last significant endeavors. Recognized for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the 18 lead artists participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have designed posters, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and history (researching the stories of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants looking through an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using organic, local produce. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is intending to tackle a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. This endeavor commenced following he experienced several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants 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 obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and