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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from peace activism to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Included in the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and geography (tracing the stories of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’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 buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a journey to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is intending to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor began when he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and