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Contributing Writer Sensory Memory & Embodied Experience

Priya Kapoor

Priya Kapoor has contributed to Light & Composition since 2010. Her Reflections approach photography through the body rather than the mind — opening with something tasted, smelled, or touched before arriving at the image itself. Priya writes about memory as it lives in the hands and the throat, not the intellect. Her pieces have a physical texture that readers describe as something closer to sensation than to reading.

1,125 Published Reflections

Reflections by Priya Kapoor

Showing 12 of 1,125 essays
The Cool Breath of Stone Photo of the Day
October 12, 2017

The Cool Breath of Stone

The smell of old stone is not really a smell at all; it is the scent of deep time, of earth that has been pulled from the dark, carved by human hands, and left to breathe in the sun. If you press your cheek against a wall that has stood for centuries, you feel a […]
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The Hum of the Hearth Photo of the Day
October 12, 2017

The Hum of the Hearth

The kitchen was always a place of damp wool and rising steam. I remember the way the air felt heavy, clinging to my skin like a damp towel after a long rain. There was a sharp, metallic tang of copper pots and the sweet, bruised scent of crushed basil leaves that stained my fingertips a […]
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The Rustle of Wild Silk Photo of the Day
October 2, 2017

The Rustle of Wild Silk

The smell of damp earth after a long drought is a heavy, metallic sweetness that clings to the back of the throat. It is the scent of secrets kept by the soil. I remember running my fingers through tall, dry grass as a child, the blades sharp enough to leave thin, stinging lines across my […]
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The Salt on the Skin Photo of the Day
October 2, 2017

The Salt on the Skin

The air in the tropics has a weight to it, a thick, humid velvet that clings to the back of your throat. It tastes of brine and sun-warmed wood, the kind of scent that settles into the pores of your skin and stays there for days. I remember the feeling of sand between my toes—not […]
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The Pulse Beneath the Skin Photo of the Day
October 1, 2017

The Pulse Beneath the Skin

There is a specific, waxy coolness to the underside of a leaf that stays with you long after you have walked away from the garden. It is a damp, velvet resistance against the fingertip, a secret language of moisture and slow-moving sap. I remember pressing my palm against the thick, fleshy stalks of succulents as […]
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The Grit of the Plains Photo of the Day
September 30, 2017

The Grit of the Plains

The smell of dry, sun-baked earth always brings me back to the feeling of coarse wool against my neck. It is a scent that clings to the back of the throat, tasting faintly of minerals and long-forgotten rain. When I close my eyes, I can still feel the rhythmic, swaying heave of an animal beneath […]
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The Weight of Thresholds Photo of the Day
September 28, 2017

The Weight of Thresholds

The smell of old stone is different from the smell of new concrete. It is a scent that clings to the back of the throat, like the dry, metallic tang of a winter morning before the frost has fully retreated. I remember running my palms over a wall that had stood for centuries; the surface […]
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The Salt of Morning Photo of the Day
September 23, 2017

The Salt of Morning

The smell of toasted grain is a tether. It pulls me back to a kitchen floor that was always cold against my bare heels, a sharp contrast to the steam rising from a heavy ceramic bowl. There is a specific grit to the morning—the rough texture of a crust, the way butter yields under the […]
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The Skin of the Earth Photo of the Day
September 21, 2017

The Skin of the Earth

The smell of damp soil always brings me back to the kitchen floor of my childhood, where the air was thick with the sharp, biting promise of a meal yet to be made. It is a scent that clings to the back of the throat, pungent and grounding. I remember the papery rustle of skin […]
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The Ink of Breath Photo of the Day
September 5, 2017

The Ink of Breath

The smell of dry earth after a long drought always brings me back to the feeling of grit under my fingernails. It is a sharp, mineral scent that settles at the back of the throat, tasting faintly of iron and ancient dust. I remember tracing the cracks in a sun-baked clay pot as a child, […]
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The Earth Under My Nails Photo of the Day
September 2, 2017

The Earth Under My Nails

There is a specific, cool dampness to river clay that stays in the creases of your palms long after you have washed them. It smells of deep, undisturbed places—a mixture of wet stone and the metallic tang of iron buried in the soil. When you press your thumbs into a soft, spinning mound, the resistance […]
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The Dust of Childhood Photo of the Day
August 30, 2017

The Dust of Childhood

The taste of dry earth always brings me back to the heat of a summer afternoon, the kind where the air feels thick enough to chew. It is a gritty, metallic tang that settles on the back of the tongue, mixed with the faint, sweet scent of sun-baked grass and distant woodsmoke. I remember the […]
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