🔗 Share this article

Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a international event to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, Remember Nature may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in initiatives like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, shared messages, and created artworks set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing 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 half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the planting intervals), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been lost in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a reading will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and it may provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and