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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 Departure Photo of the Day
June 13, 2018

The Weight of Departure

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 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—keys to rooms we have […]
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The Weight of Wings Photo of the Day
June 8, 2018

The Weight of Wings

I keep a pressed blue flower inside the pages of a dictionary, its petals now so thin they are translucent, like the skin of an onion. It was picked in a garden that no longer exists, during a summer when time felt as heavy and slow as honey. When I touch it, I am not […]
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The Weight of the Kitchen Photo of the Day
June 8, 2018

The Weight of the Kitchen

I keep a small, wooden mortar and pestle that belonged to my grandmother, its surface worn smooth and darkened by decades of crushed herbs and garlic. When I run my thumb along the rim, I can almost smell the sharp, earthy ghost of Sunday dinners long since eaten. It is a heavy, stubborn thing, yet […]
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The Weight of a Copper Coin Photo of the Day
May 20, 2018

The Weight of a Copper Coin

I keep a small, tarnished thimble in my sewing box, worn smooth by a thumb that stopped moving years ago. It is a hollow thing, yet it feels heavy with the quiet labor of a life spent mending what was torn. We often mistake the value of our days for the things we can stack […]
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The Weight of Waiting Photo of the Day
May 20, 2018

The Weight of Waiting

I keep a rusted iron key in a small velvet pouch, one that no longer fits any lock in my house. It belonged to a garden gate in a city I haven’t visited in twenty years, a place where the air always smelled of damp stone and impending rain. When I hold it, I am […]
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The Weight of Waiting Photo of the Day
April 30, 2018

The Weight of Waiting

I keep a small, dried sprig of lavender inside the pages of a ledger from 1954. It has lost its scent, turning brittle and gray, yet it remains a stubborn anchor to a season that refused to arrive on time. We spend so much of our lives in the waiting room of the year, watching […]
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The Weight of a Feather Photo of the Day
April 29, 2018

The Weight of a Feather

I keep a small, grey feather tucked inside the pages of a book of poetry I haven’t opened in years. It is brittle now, the edges frayed like the hem of a winter coat that has seen too many seasons. When I touch it, I am reminded of how much of our lives is spent […]
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The Weight of Green Photo of the Day
April 16, 2018

The Weight of Green

I keep a small, dried pressed leaf inside the pages of a book I rarely open. It is brittle now, a ghost of a summer that felt like it would never end, its edges curled and darkened like the skin of a bruised fruit. When I touch it, I am reminded that time does not […]
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The Weight of Light Photo of the Day
April 10, 2018

The Weight of Light

I keep a small, smooth stone in my pocket, pulled from a riverbed that dried up years ago. It is cool to the touch, a heavy reminder of a current that no longer runs. We often mistake the permanence of objects for the permanence of the moments that birthed them, forgetting that light, unlike stone, […]
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The Architecture of Waiting Photo of the Day
April 1, 2018

The Architecture of Waiting

I keep a small, rusted skeleton 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 curating these fragments, building small shrines […]
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The Weight of the Passing Photo of the Day
March 27, 2018

The Weight of the Passing

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, smoothed by currents I will never see and waters that have long since moved on to the sea. There is a strange comfort in holding something that has […]
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The Weight of Morning Photo of the Day
March 5, 2018

The Weight of Morning

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of being turned over in my palm. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor of silence that reminds me of the places I have walked and the paths I have left behind. We often think of memory as something […]
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