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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues 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 participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the featured creators participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to commemorate that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as holding a community dinner, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Further north, a participant is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate an art space in youth creations that express their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. The project commenced following he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy 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 thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and