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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 Petals Photo of the Day
August 8, 2020

The Weight of Petals

I keep a pressed carnation inside a heavy dictionary, its edges now the color of tea-stained lace. It was tucked into a book by a lover who did not stay, a small, brittle ghost of a summer that felt like it would never end. When I touch the dried petals, they are thin as parchment, […]
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The Weight of Running Water Photo of the Day
August 1, 2020

The Weight of Running Water

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of being turned over in my palm. It is a heavy, silent thing, yet it speaks of a journey that never truly ends. Water has a way of carving patience into the hardest surfaces, teaching us that to change is not […]
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The Weight of Petals Photo of the Day
July 30, 2020

The Weight of Petals

I keep a pressed carnation inside a heavy dictionary, its edges now the color of tea-stained lace. It was once vibrant, a shock of crimson that demanded attention, but time has turned it into something fragile and translucent, like a ghost of a bloom. When I touch it, I am reminded that we spend our […]
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The Weight of Petals Photo of the Day
July 26, 2020

The Weight of Petals

I keep a pressed daisy inside a heavy dictionary, its stem now brittle as a dry twig and its color faded to the shade of old parchment. It was plucked during a summer that felt like it would never end, back when the hours were measured only by the length of shadows on the lawn. […]
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The Weight of Empty Rooms Photo of the Day
July 21, 2020

The Weight of Empty Rooms

I keep a rusted skeleton key in a velvet-lined box, one that no longer fits any lock in my life. It is cold to the touch, heavy with the phantom weight of a door I haven’t opened in twenty years. We often believe that when a place is abandoned, it becomes hollow, but I think […]
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The Anchor of the Dark Photo of the Day
July 2, 2020

The Anchor of the Dark

I keep a small, rusted brass compass in the top drawer of my desk, its needle long ago surrendered to the stillness. It belonged to a grandfather who spent his life measuring the distance between the shore and the deep, and though it can no longer find the north, it remains heavy with the gravity […]
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The Weight of Dust Photo of the Day
June 27, 2020

The Weight of Dust

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, cold, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a house that has been locked for a lifetime. There is a strange comfort in holding something that has outlived its purpose, […]
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The Weight of Winter Photo of the Day
June 21, 2020

The Weight of Winter

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by my grandmother’s thumb over decades of mending. It is a hollow, heavy thing, yet it holds the ghost of every garment she ever saved from the fray. There is a quiet, stubborn dignity in the act of holding on when the world […]
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The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
May 21, 2020

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth pebble in my desk drawer, pulled from the foundation of a house that no longer stands. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor of limestone that once held up a family’s quiet evenings and their loud, sudden griefs. We often think of cities as fluid things, places that […]
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The Weight of a Welcome Photo of the Day
May 15, 2020

The Weight of a Welcome

I keep a small, tarnished silver tea tray in my kitchen, its surface etched with the faint, circular ghosts of cups that have long since been broken or given away. It was my grandmother’s, and she used it only when someone arrived from a long distance. She believed that the first few minutes of a […]
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The Echo of Footsteps Photo of the Day
April 11, 2020

The Echo of Footsteps

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have no idea which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and worn smooth by hands that have long since turned to dust. There is a peculiar ache in holding something that has outlived its […]
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The Weight of Footsteps Photo of the Day
April 4, 2020

The Weight of Footsteps

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. We spend so much of our lives moving through spaces, […]
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