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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting human struggles from peace activism to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to resist the steady eradication of species. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the initiative did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their work. That’s why she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces red juice

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the scientist’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 encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees looking through an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be performed to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, an artist is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. The project began when he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the bloom 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 bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and