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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting global challenges from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, notes his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the initiative may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the planting intervals), biology (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety 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 consciously engaged of the environment and the control 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 their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and