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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing human struggles from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of species. “The mission is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

Interviewing one participant, she is on site in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a reading will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a communal feast, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to cover an art space in children’s artwork that capture their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor began when he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to sow flowers at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and