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Contributing Writer Memory, Objects & Elegiac Prose

Marta Vidal

Marta Vidal is a writer and archivist whose work explores what physical objects hold — letters, worn photographs, things kept against all practical reason. She has contributed to Light & Composition since 2016. A photograph for Marta is always a form of preservation, something the photographer chose to keep. Her Reflections open with a specific object and arrive, gently, at what it means when the moment has long passed.

389 Published Reflections

Reflections by Marta Vidal

Showing 12 of 389 essays
The Weight of the Ordinary Photo of the Day
January 24, 2021

The Weight of the Ordinary

I keep a small, tarnished silver thimble in the velvet lining of my jewelry box, a relic from a grandmother I never truly knew. It is dented on one side, a tiny crater formed by years of pushing needles through heavy wool. When I touch it, I am not thinking of the sewing, but of […]
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The Weight of Sweetness Photo of the Day
January 16, 2021

The Weight of Sweetness

I keep a small, tarnished silver sifter in the back of my kitchen drawer, its mesh clogged with the ghosts of a thousand cakes. It belonged to a woman who believed that a dusting of sugar was a way of blessing the day, a soft white snow meant to hide the imperfections of a crust […]
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Steeping the Quiet Photo of the Day
January 12, 2021

Steeping the Quiet

I keep a small, dried ginkgo leaf pressed between the pages of a book I rarely open. It is brittle, a fan of veins that once held the sunlight of a season I have long since forgotten. When I touch it, I am reminded that some things are meant to be preserved not because they […]
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The Weight of a Seed Photo of the Day
December 25, 2020

The Weight of a Seed

I keep a small, rusted tin box on my desk that once held sewing needles, though now it holds only the dry, curled husks of seeds I gathered years ago. They are brittle things, light as breath, yet they carry the heavy promise of a season that has not yet arrived. We often mistake fragility […]
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The Weight of White Photo of the Day
December 1, 2020

The Weight of White

I keep a small, wool mitten in the back of my drawer, the kind knitted with thick, uneven stitches that pull at the seams. It belonged to no one I can name, yet it carries the distinct, heavy chill of a season that refused to end. There is a particular silence that comes with deep […]
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The Weight of Distance Photo of the Day
December 1, 2020

The Weight of Distance

I keep a small, smooth stone in my desk drawer, pulled from a riverbed I visited when I was far too young to understand the permanence of geography. It is cool to the touch, heavy with the sediment of mountains that have stood long before my name was spoken and will remain long after my […]
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The Architecture of Silence Photo of the Day
November 1, 2020

The Architecture of Silence

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is worn smooth at the tip, a testament to thousands of hours spent mending what had frayed, pushing needles through heavy wool and delicate silk alike. There is a quiet dignity in that wear, a record of persistence that […]
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The Weight of First Wings Photo of the Day
October 16, 2020

The Weight of First Wings

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer that once belonged to my grandmother. It is worn smooth by years of needlework, its surface dented by the rhythmic pressure of a thousand stitches. When I touch it, I am reminded of how we prepare for the world—not by grand gestures, but by the […]
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The Weight of Echoes Photo of the Day
October 15, 2020

The Weight of Echoes

I keep a small, rusted iron key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a house that no longer exists. To hold it is to feel the phantom weight of […]
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The Rhythm of Transit Photo of the Day
September 7, 2020

The Rhythm of Transit

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and carries the weight of a threshold I can no longer cross. We spend our lives moving through spaces that eventually discard us, […]
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The Weight of the Ridge Photo of the Day
September 6, 2020

The Weight of the Ridge

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of nervous thumbing. It came from a valley I visited when I was young, a place where the mountains felt like ancient, sleeping giants that had forgotten how to wake. When I hold it, I am reminded that we are only […]
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The Weight of Ink Photo of the Day
August 16, 2020

The Weight of Ink

I keep a small, silver thimble in my sewing box that belonged to a woman I never met. It is worn smooth at the tip, a testament to thousands of tiny, repetitive pressures against a needle, a life spent mending what had frayed. We often think of our days as grand narratives, but they are […]
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