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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging cultural workers to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their work. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the planting intervals), biology (exploring the apple’s DNA), and origins (tracing the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project commenced following he endured several events of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the clear connection – 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 contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and