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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 Single Drop Photo of the Day
July 15, 2022

The Weight of a Single Drop

I keep a small, silver thimble in a velvet-lined box, a relic from my grandmother’s sewing kit that still smells faintly of cedar and dust. It is a heavy, hollow thing, yet it once held the capacity to protect a finger from the sharp sting of a needle, a small shield against the labor of […]
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The Glass Between Us Photo of the Day
July 1, 2022

The Glass Between Us

I keep a pressed wildflower inside a heavy dictionary, its petals now the color of old parchment and brittle as a secret. It was picked in a meadow that has long since been paved over, a place that exists now only in the dry, flattened ghost of that bloom. We often place barriers between ourselves […]
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The Ink of Winter Photo of the Day
June 24, 2022

The Ink of Winter

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by my grandmother’s thumb over decades of mending. It is a hollow thing, yet it feels heavy with the weight of all the winters she stitched away, keeping the cold from reaching our skin. There is a particular silence that comes with the […]
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The Weight of Unfinished Games Photo of the Day
May 25, 2022

The Weight of Unfinished Games

I keep a small, rusted marble in a velvet-lined box on my desk, a relic from a game played on a sidewalk that no longer exists. It is chipped, its once-vibrant swirl of blue now dulled by the friction of years spent rolling through dirt and grass. To hold it is to feel the phantom […]
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The Weight of the Harvest Photo of the Day
May 10, 2022

The Weight of the Harvest

I keep a small, tarnished silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by decades of rhythmic friction against a needle. It belonged to a woman who spent her life mending the tears in our family’s fabric, her hands moving with a steady, quiet grace that made the labor look like a prayer. There is […]
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The Weight of a Silhouette Photo of the Day
May 1, 2022

The Weight of a Silhouette

I keep a small, tarnished silver thimble in my desk drawer, a relic from a grandmother I only knew through the stories told in hushed tones. It is hollow, yet it feels heavy with the weight of all the garments she mended and the fingers that once moved with purpose against its metal rim. When […]
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The Weight of a Recipe Photo of the Day
April 26, 2022

The Weight of a Recipe

I keep a small, grease-stained index card in the back of my kitchen drawer, its edges softened by years of thumbing through the ink. It is written in my grandmother’s hand, a list of ingredients for a meal that took hours to prepare but only minutes to vanish from our plates. There is a specific […]
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The Skin of the City Photo of the Day
April 9, 2022

The Skin of the City

I keep a small, rusted skeleton key in a velvet pouch, though I have long since forgotten which door it once opened. It is heavy, cold, and worn smooth by the friction of a hand that no longer exists. There is a strange comfort in holding something that has outlived its purpose, a relic of […]
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The Geometry of Softness Photo of the Day
March 21, 2022

The Geometry of Softness

I keep a small, silver thimble in my desk drawer, worn smooth by my grandmother’s thumb until the dimples have almost vanished. It is a heavy, quiet thing that speaks of hours spent mending what was fraying, of keeping the edges of our lives from unraveling entirely. There is a profound intimacy in the small […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
March 9, 2022

The Weight of Stillness

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 faint, metallic scent of a time when my house was filled with the frantic energy of youth. We spend our […]
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The Scent of Stilled Time Photo of the Day
March 3, 2022

The Scent of Stilled Time

I keep a small, dried sprig of lavender pressed between the pages of a book I rarely open. It has lost its vibrant purple hue, turning the color of dust and old parchment, yet when I brush my thumb against the brittle stem, a ghost of a scent still lingers. It is a strange, quiet […]
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The Weight of a Witness Photo of the Day
February 27, 2022

The Weight of a Witness

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 for its size, cold to the touch, and carries the faint, metallic scent of a time when locks were sturdy and secrets were kept behind iron. Sometimes, I turn it over […]
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