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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of species. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the initiative may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and geography (mapping the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, made using regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their dreams and worries for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is planning to represent a local symbol. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and