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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last significant endeavors. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, inviting artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“A lot 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 crimson liquid. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a quest to find the ice masses that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is intending to represent a local symbol. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project commenced following he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy 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. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and