🔗 Share this article

In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final important works. Famed for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “The mission is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so the environmental art day came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the environmental impact of their methods. For this purpose she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), biology (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, made using organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project began when he endured several events of prejudice on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and