Gustav Metzger’s Remember Nature call to action; The Fluid Earth exhibition at GroundWork Gallery, including links to my text pieces; Beuys’ Acorns by Ackroyd & Harvey; and Reimagine Norwich…
Art has special ways of making us look again and treasure our landscapes and the beautiful heritage that a safe climate has made possible. It is very much needed. Norfolk is among the UK’s most climate-vulnerable counties, and damaged nature is all around us, with a heavy toll of construction projects, pollution and coastal erosion.
The artist Gustav Metzger, who lived for ten years in King’s Lynn, proposed using the term ‘damaged nature’ instead of ‘the environment’ to grasp that we are devastating our living world. If we re-member nature, we put its members or parts back together again. We can restore the mutuality between plants and soil, micro-organisms and larger animals, and the balance of Earth systems. With some curators, he founded Remember Nature Day on 4th November. This year, its 10th anniversary sees events in galleries nationwide, including Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.
Here are some art events coming up in Norfolk that invite you to reflect on the value of nature in our lives. (I have written a short version of this article for the Eastern Daily Press, hence the localism here!)
You could visit King’s Lynn to see the Fluid Earth exhibition at GroundWork Gallery (4th October — 13th December). Sixteen artists, including me, went on trips across North Norfolk, meeting land stewards and experts. We talked together and created artworks about different ways to see and care for our landscape, wildlife and planet. We explored the relationships between fluid (in rivers, sea, animals and atmosphere) and the earth (in soil, mud, rocks and human-made materials).
See the full texts and illustrations of two main pieces that I created here: Water Falls, Springs Rise; and Wild Nature, Human Nature.
The exhibition will be accompanied by creative activities, talks and a conference, so you can join in exploring these ideas too.
On November 4th in King’s Lynn, there will be a small event to remember Metzger and visit his former studio. GroundWork Gallery is planning a more substantial celebration to mark the centenary of his birth in 2026 (10th April). A focus on Metzger may include the fact that he was a Jewish refugee, and stateless. Environmental and political destruction were inseparable themes in his art. While environmental factors may trigger much displacement, it is racist and territorialist exclusion that generates conflict and prevents people from finding safe homes and re-rooting as nature stewards.
Another way to remember nature is to visit one of the circles of oak saplings, part of a growing artwork called Beuys’ Acorns by artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey. You can find one at Harding’s Pits in King’s Lynn, and another in the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park in Norwich.
Ackroyd & Harvey mix art and activism to address damaged nature and the climate crisis. The oak trees are living sculptures planted in a circle of seven. They began Beuys’ Acorns in 2007 when they germinated hundreds of acorns from the environmental artwork 7000 Oaks by artist Joseph Beuys. Beuys saw art as a great force for social change. He hoped it would encourage people to plant more trees to improve mental well-being and habitats for wildlife. Today, as the global climate is rapidly warming, we realise how important trees are as protection from extreme heat and flooding.
There will be a public celebration event at the Sainsbury Centre to mark the planting on the afternoon of Sunday, 12th October. I will be in conversation with Asher Minns (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, UEA), and Heather and Dan (who I know well as co-founders of Culture Declares Emergency).
The third opportunity to remember nature is the Festival of People and Planet in Norwich (11th — 18th October). Organised by Reimagine Norwich, of which I am an active member, this festival is part of Global Doughnut Days 2025, a movement inspired by Doughnut Economics. It will bring together art, politics, lived experience and local action in response to today’s global crises of climate change, conflict and inequality. Local campaigners, artists and University of East Anglia researchers will lead discussions and art workshops exploring how Norwich can connect local resilience with global solidarity. For example, Emma Skeet will help you use colour and pattern to reflect on our potential to be positive changemakers for people and planet, and John Chirwa will explore how the arts help people in Malawi face the rising threats of extreme weather.
I’ll be running a workshop called How It All Connects, using art and looking at maps and graphic images, participants will create their own artworks to convey the linkages between environmental and social justice. I’ve created this poster as a starting point for their explorations, to focus in on elements of sun, biota, water and air, as these are at the root of everything that matters. These are nature, that we must remember.
If you miss out, all these organisations offer future chances to be inspired by art and remember nature. All GroundWork Gallery exhibitions are about the environment. You can visit the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park to see Beuys’ Acorns alongside beautiful nature and sculptures, and plenty of art indoors too. You can also visit the Greenhouse Gallery in Norwich, that is continuing the 7,000 Oaks project in a different way, as well as other local eco-artists and books. Reimagine Norwich will continue to hold events, and you are welcome to join its community. And, I’ll keep on offering workshops, training and more, in Norwich, elsewhere and online.
