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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Famed for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “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 naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, Remember Nature did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its influence can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the distances between trees), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be conducted to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, made using regional food. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project commenced following he experienced three incidents of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since grown to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume 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 etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and