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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his final years, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), genetics (studying the hereditary traits), and origins (tracing the journeys of how different apples arrived in Britain).

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

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from each person. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is intending to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project began when he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to sow flowers at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and