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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final major projects. Recognized for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the environmental impact of their methods. For this purpose she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (calculating the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Each has histories attached. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants searching a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that express their dreams and worries for the future. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project began when he faced three incidents of prejudice on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to cover events 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 ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the events and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and