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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 Stillness Photo of the Day
June 3, 2017

The Weight of Stillness

I keep a small, smooth stone in my pocket, worn down by years of nervous thumbing. It came from a riverbed I visited as a child, a place that no longer exists in the way I remember it, having been redirected by concrete and industry long ago. When I hold the stone, I am not […]
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The Weight of a Feather Photo of the Day
May 28, 2017

The Weight of a Feather

I keep a single, iridescent feather tucked inside the pages of a book I rarely open. It is frayed at the edges, a small, brittle ghost of a creature that once navigated the vast, indifferent currents of the sky. To hold it is to feel the quiet ache of distance—the realization that we are all […]
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The Weight of a Pause Photo of the Day
May 23, 2017

The Weight of a Pause

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet-lined box on my desk, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, a cold weight that anchors me to the idea of entry and exit, of spaces that were once inhabited and are now merely echoes. […]
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The Weight of Morning Photo of the Day
May 23, 2017

The Weight of Morning

I keep a small, smooth stone on my desk, pulled from the shoreline of a beach I visited when I was still young enough to believe that time was a river that only flowed forward. It is cold to the touch, worn down by the constant, rhythmic friction of the tide until all its sharp […]
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The Weight of the Watchful Photo of the Day
May 22, 2017

The Weight of the Watchful

I keep a small, tarnished 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 phantom weight of a house that no longer exists. We spend our lives gathering these remnants—the keys, the dried flowers, […]
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The Weight of Quiet Paths Photo of the Day
May 9, 2017

The Weight of Quiet Paths

I keep a heavy iron key in my desk drawer, its teeth worn smooth by years of turning locks that no longer exist. It belonged to a garden gate at my grandmother’s house, a place where the gravel crunched underfoot with a sound like breaking glass. Holding it, I am reminded that we are all, […]
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The Weight of Resting Photo of the Day
April 24, 2017

The Weight of Resting

I keep a small, smooth stone in my pocket that I picked up from a path I walked years ago. It is worn down by the friction of my thumb, a quiet record of the miles I have traveled and the moments I have chosen to stop. We are so often defined by our movement, […]
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The Weight of Rain Photo of the Day
April 24, 2017

The Weight of Rain

I keep a small, rusted tin box in the back of my drawer, filled with smooth river stones I collected as a child. They are heavy, cool to the touch, and carry the memory of a summer when the sky turned a bruised, impossible purple before the clouds finally broke. There is a specific silence […]
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The Weight of the Net Photo of the Day
April 17, 2017

The Weight of the Net

I keep a small, rusted thimble in a ceramic bowl on my desk, a relic from my grandmother’s sewing kit. It is dented from years of pushing needles through heavy wool, its surface worn smooth by the repetitive labor of keeping things whole. There is a quiet, rhythmic dignity in such work—the way a life […]
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The Weight of a Glance Photo of the Day
April 16, 2017

The Weight of a Glance

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have no idea which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, cold against the palm, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a time when locks were simple and houses were meant to stay shut. We spend our lives […]
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The Weight of Stone Photo of the Day
April 12, 2017

The Weight of Stone

I keep a small, smooth pebble in my pocket that I picked up from the threshold of my grandmother’s house the day we finally locked the door for good. It is cool to the touch, worn down by decades of footsteps and the slow, rhythmic pulse of the seasons. There is a particular kind of […]
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The Weight of a Life Photo of the Day
March 25, 2017

The Weight of a Life

I keep a small, brass key in my desk drawer that no longer fits any lock I own. It is heavy, cool to the touch, and worn smooth by the friction of a thumb that has long since stopped turning it. There is a particular ache in holding something that has outlived its purpose, a […]
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