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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Famed for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to oppose the steady eradication of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Among the key participants participating now are A Man Called Adam 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

When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the gaps in the orchard), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a quest to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with regional food. In another city, a participant is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may inspire a awareness of obligation from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he endured several events of prejudice on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose 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. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and