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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 Small Hand Photo of the Day
August 25, 2017

The Weight of a Small Hand

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by the constant friction of my thumb. It is a heavy, silent thing, yet it carries the memory of a summer afternoon when time felt as solid and unmoving as the earth beneath my feet. We spend our lives gathering these small anchors, […]
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The Weight of the Sky Photo of the Day
August 21, 2017

The Weight of the Sky

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 that reminds me of the earth’s patient, silent endurance. We spend so much of our lives looking forward, eyes fixed on the horizon or the […]
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The Weight of Summer Photo of the Day
August 16, 2017

The Weight of Summer

I keep a small, dried sprig of lavender pressed between the pages of a book I haven’t opened in years. It is brittle now, a ghost of a scent that once filled a kitchen in a house I no longer visit. When I touch it, the tiny buds crumble into dust, leaving only the faint, […]
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The Weight of Worn Cotton Photo of the Day
August 10, 2017

The Weight of Worn Cotton

I keep a small, faded ribbon in a wooden box, the fabric thinned by years of being tied and untied. It once held back my sister’s hair during a summer that felt like it would never end, a time when our days were measured only by the height of the sun and the dust on […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
August 10, 2017

The Weight of Small Things

I keep a pressed blue petal inside the pages of a dictionary, tucked between words I rarely use. It was once part of a cluster that grew near the stone wall of my grandmother’s garden, a patch of color so modest it was easily overlooked by anyone walking too fast. When I touch the dry, […]
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The Weight of Water Photo of the Day
August 7, 2017

The Weight of Water

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 time when locks were forged by hand. We spend our lives gathering these fragments—the keys […]
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The Threshold of Knowing Photo of the Day
August 6, 2017

The Threshold of Knowing

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is a heavy, cold weight in my palm, a physical reminder of a space I can no longer enter. There is a particular ache in standing before a threshold, knowing that what […]
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The Weight of a Feather Photo of the Day
July 30, 2017

The Weight of a Feather

I keep a small, iridescent feather tucked inside the pages of a book I rarely open. It is a fragile thing, brittle to the touch, yet it carries the weight of a summer afternoon that has long since dissolved into the grey blur of the years. There is a quiet ache in holding something that […]
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The Weight of the Harvest Photo of the Day
July 19, 2017

The Weight of the Harvest

I keep a small, wooden bowl in my kitchen that has lost its varnish to decades of use. It is scarred by the rhythmic scrape of a metal spoon, a map of countless quiet meals prepared in the hum of late afternoons. There is something sacred about the way we handle the earth’s offerings—the way […]
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The Weight of Winter Photo of the Day
July 12, 2017

The Weight of Winter

I keep a wool mitten in the back of my cedar chest, the thumb worn thin from years of gripping a sled rope that has long since rotted away. It is a heavy, stiff thing, smelling faintly of mothballs and the sharp, metallic scent of a season that refuses to stay. When I hold it, […]
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The Tide’s Quiet Erasure Photo of the Day
June 22, 2017

The Tide’s Quiet Erasure

I keep a small, smooth stone in my pocket that I found on a beach long ago. It is worn down by the constant, rhythmic friction of the ocean, losing its sharp edges until it became something soft and singular. There is a strange comfort in holding something that has been shaped by the slow, […]
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The Weight of a Petal Photo of the Day
June 14, 2017

The Weight of a Petal

I keep a pressed jasmine flower inside the pages of a dictionary, its color long ago surrendered to the dry, brittle shade of parchment. It is a fragile thing, so thin that it threatens to crumble into dust if I breathe too heavily upon it. Yet, it holds the weight of a summer afternoon that […]
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