On the “City Lights” series “Speaking of Art,” local artists share insights into their influences, processes and experiences in town. This edition focuses on Steven L. Anderson, an Atlanta-based visual artist, graphic designer and gallery co-director. 

Anderson’s visual art is about nature, systems, and how nature works. “I do images, drawings, paintings, sometimes videos, of tree rings, the cross-section of a tree when it’s cut,” Anderson says. I also do drawings and paintings of roots, leaves, ferns…”

In his artistic journey, Anderson studied succulents and viewed their systems as metaphors for how artists and activists can survive.