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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 Threshold of Small Things Photo of the Day
October 14, 2023

The Threshold of Small Things

I keep a small, rusted tin box in the back of my drawer, filled with the copper coins my grandfather used to press into my palm before he walked me to the market. They are worn smooth by his thumb, the edges softened by years of being passed from one hand to another, carrying the […]
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The Weight of Solid Ground Photo of the Day
October 11, 2023

The Weight of Solid Ground

I keep a smooth, grey river stone on my desk that I picked up during a summer when the world felt entirely too fluid. It is heavy, cool to the touch, and carries the stubborn density of something that refuses to be moved by the current. We spend so much of our lives trying to […]
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The Rhythm of the Furrow Photo of the Day
September 30, 2023

The Rhythm of the Furrow

I keep a small, rusted iron key in my desk drawer that no longer opens any door I know. It is heavy, cold to the touch, and worn smooth by the hands of someone who lived long before I was born. There is a weight to things that have spent years working the earth, a […]
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The Path Through Silence Photo of the Day
September 18, 2023

The Path Through Silence

I keep a small, rusted iron key in my desk drawer that no longer fits any lock I own. It is heavy, cold to the touch, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a house that has long since been reclaimed by the weeds. Sometimes, I turn it over in my palm, wondering about the […]
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The Weight of the Journey Photo of the Day
September 2, 2023

The Weight of the Journey

I keep a small, brass key in a velvet pouch that no longer opens any door I know. It is heavy, cool to the touch, and worn smooth by the friction of being held during long, restless nights. It represents a threshold I once crossed, a place I once called home, though the house itself […]
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Stone and Breath Photo of the Day
August 21, 2023

Stone and Breath

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn perfectly round by a current I will never see. It is cool to the touch, a heavy reminder that some things are meant to endure long after the water that shaped them has moved on. We are often so preoccupied with the fleeting nature […]
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The Salt of Shared Tables Photo of the Day
August 14, 2023

The Salt of Shared Tables

I keep a small, tarnished silver fork in my drawer, its tines slightly bent from years of pressing into soft potatoes and Sunday roasts. It belonged to a kitchen that no longer exists, a place where the steam from the stove blurred the windows and the scent of searing fat was the only language we […]
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The Weight of Passing Photo of the Day
August 7, 2023

The Weight of Passing

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, cool to the touch, and worn smooth by the friction of a hand that no longer exists. There is a strange, quiet ache in holding something that has lost its purpose […]
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The Path of Quiet Stones Photo of the Day
July 5, 2023

The Path of Quiet Stones

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 a place I have never visited, a silent witness to a river that has long since changed its course. We are all, in some way, tethered to […]
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The Weight of a Worn Coat Photo of the Day
June 12, 2023

The Weight of a Worn Coat

I have a wool coat in the back of my closet that still smells faintly of woodsmoke and damp earth, a relic from a winter I spent wandering through cities that did not know my name. The fabric is thin at the elbows, worn down by years of leaning against stone walls and train station […]
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The Weight of the Horizon Photo of the Day
June 3, 2023

The Weight of the Horizon

I keep a small, smooth stone on my desk, pulled from a riverbed I haven’t visited in twenty years. It is cold, heavy, and unremarkable to anyone else, but it carries the silence of that particular water. We are often told that to move forward, we must travel light, yet I find that we are […]
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The Weight of a Shared Hour Photo of the Day
May 16, 2023

The Weight of a Shared Hour

I keep a small, tarnished silver spoon in my kitchen drawer, its handle worn smooth by the thumb of a grandmother I never truly knew. It is a heavy, quiet thing, a relic of long afternoons spent lingering over tea and stories that have since dissolved into the air. We often think that the significance […]
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