🔗 Share this article

In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing human struggles from peace activism to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of species. “Our task is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will create a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the stories of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged 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 prompting them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, one artist’s Book of Loss will include attendees looking through an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to fill an art space in children’s artwork that express their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, 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 renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and