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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate important works. Famed for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “He had 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 authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and created artworks set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. All formations will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be held to commemorate that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their dreams and worries for the future. “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 quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor began when he endured multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and