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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 a Glance Photo of the Day
November 19, 2018

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, a cold, jagged reminder that there are thresholds we cross without ever knowing their significance. We spend our lives standing on the edges of one another’s worlds, […]
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The Weight of Sweetness Photo of the Day
November 12, 2018

The Weight of Sweetness

I keep a small, silver teaspoon in my desk drawer, its handle worn smooth by the thumb of a grandmother I only knew through the stories told in hushed kitchens. It is a heavy, quiet thing, tarnished by the decades, yet it carries the phantom weight of Sunday afternoons spent waiting for the oven to […]
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The Weight of Small Hands Photo of the Day
November 6, 2018

The Weight of Small Hands

I keep a small, rusted iron key in the bottom drawer of my desk, one that no longer fits any lock in my house. It belonged to a trunk my father kept in the attic, a heavy thing that smelled of cedar and damp earth. I remember the way he would turn it—a slow, deliberate […]
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The Weight of Water Photo of the Day
November 2, 2018

The Weight of Water

I keep a small, rusted tin box in the back of my drawer that holds a single, water-stained ribbon from a childhood dress. It is stiff now, the color bled out by time and damp, but when I touch it, I am transported back to a summer storm that turned the garden into a river. […]
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The Weight of Sweetness Photo of the Day
October 29, 2018

The Weight of Sweetness

I keep a small, tarnished silver spoon in the back of my kitchen drawer, its handle worn smooth by the thumb of a grandmother I only knew through stories. It is a heavy, quiet object that tastes of nothing now, yet it carries the phantom weight of Sunday afternoons spent waiting for the oven to […]
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The Weight of a Running Shadow Photo of the Day
October 29, 2018

The Weight of a Running Shadow

I keep a small, smooth stone in my desk drawer, worn down by years of being turned over in my palm. It was once part of a garden wall that crumbled long ago, a piece of something that stood firm against the wind until it didn’t. When I hold it, I am reminded that we […]
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The Weight of Departures Photo of the Day
October 3, 2018

The Weight of Departures

I keep a rusted iron key in a velvet-lined box, one that no longer fits any lock in my house. It belonged to a heavy wooden trunk my grandfather used to carry across borders, a vessel for his entire life when he had to leave everything else behind. To hold it is to feel the […]
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The Weight of the Table Photo of the Day
September 29, 2018

The Weight of the Table

I keep a small, chipped ceramic bowl in the back of my cupboard, its glaze worn thin by decades of use. It is far too fragile for daily chores, yet I cannot bring myself to discard it. It holds the ghost of a thousand breakfasts, the quiet clatter of spoons against porcelain, and the way […]
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The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
September 21, 2018

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, rusted iron key in a velvet-lined box, 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 building walls and carving thresholds, convinced […]
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The Weight of Unspoken Years Photo of the Day
September 19, 2018

The Weight of Unspoken Years

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by the friction of my grandmother’s thumb. It is a hollow, heavy thing, yet it carries the weight of a thousand mended seams and the quiet patience of afternoons spent stitching life back together. We often think of our history as a grand […]
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Echoes in the Stone Photo of the Day
August 18, 2018

Echoes in the Stone

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of being turned over in my palm. It is heavy with the weight of places I have never been, yet it feels like a familiar anchor. There is a quiet language in stone—a patience that outlasts the frantic pulse of our […]
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The Weight of Passing Photo of the Day
August 16, 2018

The Weight of Passing

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 against the palm, and carries the phantom weight of a room I can no longer enter. We spend our lives collecting these fragments—keys to locks that […]
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