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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Famed for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

Thus Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his drive for action. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to celebrate its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the gaps in the orchard), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the stories of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’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 buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a community dinner, made using organic, local produce. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may inspire a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’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 a local symbol. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project commenced following he faced several events of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared 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 ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to plant pansies at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and