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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 Small Things Photo of the Day
August 4, 2019

The Weight of Small Things

I keep a small, chipped porcelain thimble in the velvet lining of my jewelry box. It belonged to a grandmother I never met, yet its weight against my thumb feels like a tether to a life lived in quiet, rhythmic stitches. We often discard the vessels of our daily routines—the empty jars, the worn-out brushes, […]
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The Weight of Winter Photo of the Day
August 3, 2019

The Weight of Winter

I keep a small, dried sprig of lavender inside the pages of a book I rarely open. It was plucked years ago, when the frost was still biting at the edges of the garden, yet it held onto a stubborn, dusty scent of summer. There is a specific ache in witnessing something survive the cold—a […]
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The Weight of Dust Photo of the Day
July 31, 2019

The Weight of Dust

I keep a small, wooden-handled brush in my desk drawer, its bristles worn down to uneven stubs from years of clearing away the fine, grey silt that settles on my grandfather’s old books. There is a quiet dignity in the act of sweeping—a rhythmic, repetitive motion that acknowledges the passage of time without trying to […]
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The Quietude of Morning Photo of the Day
July 29, 2019

The Quietude of Morning

I keep a small, chipped ceramic saucer in the back of my cupboard, stained by the rings of a thousand cups of tea. It belonged to my grandmother, and though it is unremarkable to anyone else, it holds the weight of her slow, deliberate mornings. She would sit by the window as the light climbed […]
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The Map of Our Years Photo of the Day
July 28, 2019

The Map of Our Years

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is dented on one side, a tiny crater formed by years of pushing needles through heavy wool. When I run my thumb over that imperfection, I am not just touching metal; I am tracing the rhythm of a life […]
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The Weight of Morning Photo of the Day
July 26, 2019

The Weight of Morning

I keep a small, silver spoon in my kitchen drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is worn thin at the edges, the metal smoothed by decades of stirring tea and tasting soups, a quiet witness to the slow rhythm of her mornings. When I hold it, I am reminded that we spend our lives […]
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The Weight of a Morning Photo of the Day
July 7, 2019

The Weight of a Morning

I keep a small, chipped ceramic bowl in the back of my cupboard, the kind that once held a simple breakfast on a Tuesday morning I have long since forgotten. It is stained with the faint, stubborn shadow of a berry juice that dried there years ago. We often think of our lives as grand, […]
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The Weight of the Table Photo of the Day
June 9, 2019

The Weight of the Table

I keep a small, silver-plated fork in my kitchen drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is worn thin at the tines, smoothed by decades of Sunday suppers and the quiet, repetitive labor of feeding a family. When I hold it, I am not just holding a utensil; I am holding the memory of a […]
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The Weight of Unfolding Photo of the Day
June 3, 2019

The Weight of Unfolding

I keep a pressed fern inside the pages of a dictionary, its edges brittle and translucent like the skin of an onion. It was picked during a summer that felt endless, back when time moved with the slow, deliberate pace of a growing thing. We often think of growth as a loud, sudden arrival, but […]
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The Veins of Yesterday Photo of the Day
May 31, 2019

The Veins of Yesterday

I keep a pressed fern inside a heavy dictionary, its edges now brittle and the color of a bruised sunset. It was tucked away years ago, a souvenir from a walk through a forest that no longer exists in the same way, replaced by the slow creep of concrete and new fences. When I touch […]
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The Weight of the Table Photo of the Day
May 26, 2019

The Weight of the Table

I keep a small, silver-plated fork in my kitchen drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is slightly bent at the neck, a permanent record of a Sunday afternoon when she dropped it while laughing at a story I have long since forgotten. To hold it is to feel the phantom weight of a meal […]
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The Weight of Still Water Photo of the Day
May 23, 2019

The Weight of Still 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, quiet thing, cool to the touch even in the heat of summer. There is something about the way water shapes a stone that mirrors how time shapes us—slowly, persistently, and […]
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