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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 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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The Weight of Sunlight Photo of the Day
April 29, 2023

The Weight of Sunlight

I keep a small, smooth river stone on my desk, worn down by years of water and the friction of my own thumb. It is heavy for its size, a dense anchor of earth that reminds me of a summer when time felt infinite, before the edges of the days began to fray. We spend […]
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The Weight of the Tide Photo of the Day
April 18, 2023

The Weight of the Tide

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, cold, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a time when locks were sturdy and secrets were kept behind solid wood. There is a particular gravity to objects that have […]
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The Sweetness of Staying Photo of the Day
April 12, 2023

The Sweetness of Staying

I keep a small, tarnished silver spoon in my desk drawer, its handle worn smooth by hands that stopped reaching for it decades ago. It is a heavy, quiet thing, a relic of Sunday afternoons when the air was thick with the scent of caramelized sugar and the slow, rhythmic ticking of a wall clock. […]
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The Weight of Ascending Photo of the Day
March 21, 2023

The Weight of Ascending

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, cold and stubborn, a relic of a threshold that no longer exists. There is a peculiar ache in holding something that promises passage to […]
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