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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last important works. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting cultural workers to resist the steady eradication 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 naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its legacy can still be felt in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their work. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (tracing the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

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

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on 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. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been lost in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project started after he endured three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from 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 project on 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and