🔗 Share this article

In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, Remember Nature did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its influence can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (researching the stories of how different apples were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s Book of Loss will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in the past decade. All formations will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

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

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that document their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to address an iconic figure. 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. This endeavor commenced following he faced several events of discrimination on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and