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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging artists and creatives to oppose the ongoing loss of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its impact can still be felt in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries background narratives. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Each glacier will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Further north, a participant is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to address 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 recent decades. The project began when he experienced three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since grown to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked 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. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and