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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final major projects. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he announced, urging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, Remember Nature hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its impact can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists participating now are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, 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 the variety and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors searching a major gallery on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. In another city, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to fill an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. The project started after he faced three incidents of prejudice on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from 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 plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and