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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, notes his drive for action. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing one participant, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the apple’s DNA), and origins (tracing the journeys of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many 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 the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, a participant’s Book of Loss will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a performance will be conducted to commemorate that individual formation.

At the same time, up in a northern town, a creative will be hosting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project commenced following he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events experienced 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and