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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.

393 Published Reflections

Reflections by Marta Vidal

Showing 12 of 393 essays
The Weight of Migration Photo of the Day
February 1, 2020

The Weight of Migration

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by my grandmother’s thumb over forty years of mending. It is a heavy little thing, cold to the touch, yet it carries the phantom warmth of her hands and the rhythmic pull of a needle through linen. We often think of our lives […]
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The Unfinished Map Photo of the Day
January 29, 2020

The Unfinished Map

I keep a small, brass key in a velvet-lined box, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy, cool to the touch, and worn smooth by the friction of a hand that is no longer here to guide me. We spend our lives collecting these fragments—keys to rooms we […]
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The Sweetness of Vanishing Photo of the Day
January 13, 2020

The Sweetness of Vanishing

I keep a silver teaspoon in the back of my drawer, its handle worn smooth by decades of Sunday afternoons. It belonged to a house that no longer stands, a kitchen where the air always smelled of vanilla and the frantic, beautiful heat of a summer that felt like it would never end. There is […]
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The Weight of Veins Photo of the Day
January 10, 2020

The Weight of Veins

I keep a pressed fern inside the pages of a dictionary, its edges brittle as parchment and dark as dried tea. It was plucked from a garden I no longer visit, a place where the air felt heavy with the scent of damp earth and coming rain. When I touch the fragile, skeletal veins of […]
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The Weight of a Glance Photo of the Day
January 9, 2020

The Weight of a Glance

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 our lives collecting these fragments—the keys to rooms […]
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The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
December 25, 2019

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of nervous thumbing. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor that reminds me of a summer spent by a creek that has long since dried up. We collect these fragments of the world—a stone, a rusted key, a pressed […]
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The Weight of Small Wheels Photo of the Day
December 10, 2019

The Weight of Small Wheels

I keep a small, rusted iron key in the velvet lining of my jewelry box, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, a cold weight that anchors me to a house that no longer exists, in a neighborhood that has been paved over by the […]
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The Weight of the Sky Photo of the Day
December 5, 2019

The Weight of the Sky

I keep a small, rusted key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, a cold piece of iron that feels like a promise made by someone who is no longer here to keep it. We spend our lives collecting these fragments—keys […]
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The Unfolding Fabric of Time Photo of the Day
December 3, 2019

The Unfolding Fabric of Time

I keep a small, silk ribbon in a cedar box, the color of a sunset that has long since faded into grey. It once belonged to a dress I wore as a girl, a garment that felt like a second skin during those long, breathless summers when the wind seemed to carry the promise of […]
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The Weight of Small Steps Photo of the Day
November 16, 2019

The Weight of Small Steps

I keep a small, rusted iron key in a velvet pouch, though I have long 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 our lives collecting these fragments—the keys to rooms we […]
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The Weight of Early Hours Photo of the Day
November 15, 2019

The Weight of Early Hours

I keep a small, rusted key in a ceramic bowl on my desk, 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 time when I still believed that every lock had a corresponding secret waiting […]
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The Weight of White Photo of the Day
November 14, 2019

The Weight of White

I keep a small, smooth stone from a riverbed that dried up years ago. It is heavy for its size, cold to the touch, and carries the silence of a place that no longer speaks. When I hold it, I am reminded that stillness is not an absence of life, but a different way of […]
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