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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last significant endeavors. Famed for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have created visual art, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to one participant, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the planting intervals), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (researching the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

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

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from regional food. In another city, an artist is sharing her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with 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 planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project commenced following he faced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives 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 project 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 discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and