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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Known for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from peace activism to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, inviting makers and thinkers to oppose the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, Remember Nature did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. Each has created visual art, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the planting intervals), biology (exploring the genetic makeup), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has stories behind them. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment 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 check the packaging and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

At the capital, one artist’s project on disappearance will engage visitors looking through an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using special pens. When located, a alert will occur and a reading will be held to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work 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 spot where it happened and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose 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. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and