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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 a Ribbon Photo of the Day
November 18, 2016

The Weight of a Ribbon

I keep a small, frayed silk ribbon in the back of my desk drawer, the kind used to tie back hair during childhood summers. It has lost its original luster, the edges curling inward like a leaf in autumn, yet it holds the phantom shape of a bow. To touch it is to remember a […]
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The Weight of First Light Photo of the Day
November 13, 2016

The Weight of First Light

I keep a pressed petal from a wild hibiscus inside the pages of a book I rarely open. It has lost its original, violent red, fading instead into the color of a bruised sunset or a secret kept too long. When I touch it, I am reminded that seasons do not announce themselves with trumpets; […]
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The Weight of the Daily Photo of the Day
November 10, 2016

The Weight of the Daily

I keep a small, rusted tin box in my desk drawer, filled with the silver foil wrappers of candies I shared with my father years ago. They are thin, crinkled things, useless to anyone else, yet they hold the shape of his thumbprints and the quiet rhythm of our afternoons. We are all, in our […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
November 5, 2016

The Weight of Stillness

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of water rushing over its surface until it became perfectly balanced in my palm. It is a quiet thing, heavy with the memory of a current I never saw, a relic of a journey that happened long before I arrived. We […]
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The Weight of the Wait Photo of the Day
November 3, 2016

The Weight of the Wait

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 security was a simple matter of turning a lock. We spend so much […]
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The Weight of Winter Photo of the Day
October 26, 2016

The Weight of Winter

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is dented on one side, a tiny scar from a life spent mending what had frayed. When I press my thumb against that cold metal, I am reminded that endurance is often a quiet, solitary act. We spend so […]
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The Weight of a Whisper Photo of the Day
October 25, 2016

The Weight of a Whisper

I keep a small, rusted key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy for its size, a cold piece of iron that feels like a secret held too tightly in the palm. We spend our lives collecting these fragments—keys to locks that have been […]
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The Edge of a Shadow Photo of the Day
October 18, 2016

The Edge of a Shadow

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer that belonged to my grandmother. It is worn smooth on one side, a testament to the thousands of times she pushed a needle through heavy wool, guiding the thread to mend what had frayed. When I hold it, I am reminded that we are all […]
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The Geometry of Home Photo of the Day
October 18, 2016

The Geometry of Home

I keep a small, silver paring knife in my kitchen drawer, its handle worn smooth by my grandmother’s thumb. It is a heavy, quiet thing that has spent decades parting the skin of roots and bulbs, revealing the pale, hidden architecture of the earth. There is a specific, sharp scent that lingers whenever I use […]
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The Weight of a Shared Secret Photo of the Day
October 6, 2016

The Weight of a Shared Secret

I keep a small, rusted tin box in my desk drawer, filled with smooth river stones I collected with my brother when we were barely tall enough to see over the garden fence. Each stone is heavy with the silence of a summer afternoon that no longer exists. We didn’t know then that we were […]
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The Weight of the Ascent Photo of the Day
September 27, 2016

The Weight of the Ascent

I keep a small, brass key in a velvet-lined box that no longer opens any door in my house. It is heavy for its size, worn smooth by the friction of a thumb that has long since stopped searching for the lock. We spend our lives building structures—staircases, hallways, thresholds—believing they are meant to lead […]
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The Weight of the Harvest Photo of the Day
September 14, 2016

The Weight of the Harvest

I keep a small, tarnished silver spoon in my kitchen drawer, its handle worn smooth by the hands of a grandmother I never truly knew. It is heavy, far heavier than its size suggests, carrying the phantom weight of Sunday morning porridge and the quiet labor of hands that spent decades feeding a family. We […]
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