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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 Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
September 3, 2015

The Weight of Stillness

The smell of damp pavement after a sudden rain always brings me back to the feeling of waiting. It is a heavy, humid scent that clings to the skin like a damp wool blanket. When you wait, time does not move in a straight line; it pools around your ankles like lukewarm water. I remember […]
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Velvet Against the Chill Photo of the Day
August 31, 2015

Velvet Against the Chill

The air in early spring has a sharp, metallic bite, like licking a frozen iron gate. It is a thin, biting cold that settles deep into the marrow, making you crave the thick, waxy resistance of a petal between your thumb and forefinger. I remember the sensation of crushing a bloom—the way the skin of […]
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The Brittle Edge of Breath Photo of the Day
August 27, 2015

The Brittle Edge of Breath

The smell of dry earth after a long drought is a sharp, metallic sting in the back of the throat. It is the scent of things letting go. I remember the feeling of a dried leaf between my thumb and forefinger—the way it resists, then yields with a sound like a tiny, splintering bone. There […]
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The Salt on the Wind Photo of the Day
August 26, 2015

The Salt on the Wind

The smell of cooling asphalt after a summer rain always brings me back to the feeling of bare feet on hot pavement. It is a sharp, metallic scent that clings to the back of the throat, tasting faintly of ozone and dust. My skin remembers the sudden prickle of goosebumps when the heat breaks, that […]
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The Weight of Dust and Velvet Photo of the Day
August 22, 2015

The Weight of Dust and Velvet

There is a specific, dry tickle that happens when you press your face into the velvet of a moth-eaten curtain. It smells of attic air and the slow, patient decay of summer. I remember the feeling of stillness that comes when you hold your breath, trying not to disturb the dust motes dancing in a […]
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Salt on the Tongue Photo of the Day
August 17, 2015

Salt on the Tongue

The air before a storm tastes of wet iron and crushed green stems. It is a thick, humid weight that clings to the skin like a damp wool blanket, pressing against the pulse in your throat. I remember standing in a place where the earth turned to liquid, where the smell of brackish water and […]
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The Grit of Memory Photo of the Day
August 17, 2015

The Grit of Memory

The smell of crushed mustard seeds is a sharp, yellow heat that settles at the back of the throat. It is a scent that demands attention, pulling the body back to a kitchen floor worn smooth by generations of knees. I remember the cool, unforgiving grit of stone against my palms—the rhythmic, heavy slide of […]
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The Salt on the Skin Photo of the Day
August 13, 2015

The Salt on the Skin

The air before dawn has a specific weight, a dampness that clings to the back of the throat like cold, wet wool. I remember the feeling of sand between my toes—not the dry, shifting kind, but the packed, heavy silt that pulls at your ankles as the tide retreats. It smells of brine and ancient, […]
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Velvet Held in Breath Photo of the Day
August 6, 2015

Velvet Held in Breath

The smell of damp earth after a sudden spring rain is a language my skin speaks fluently. It is a heavy, sweet scent, like crushed stems and wet stone, that settles deep in the lungs. I remember kneeling in the garden as a child, my palms pressed into the cool, yielding grit of the soil, […]
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The Rhythm of the Weave Photo of the Day
July 30, 2015

The Rhythm of the Weave

The smell of damp hemp and river silt always brings me back to the feeling of calloused palms. It is a dry, fibrous scent, like earth that has been scrubbed clean by moving water. I remember the way my grandfather’s hands looked—the skin mapped with lines as deep as the grooves in a wooden floor, […]
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The Roughness of Being Photo of the Day
July 30, 2015

The Roughness of Being

The smell of damp earth after a long, humid afternoon is a heavy, velvet thing. It clings to the back of the throat, tasting of minerals and ancient, slow-moving time. I remember pressing my palm against the trunk of a banyan tree when I was small; the bark was a map of ridges and deep, […]
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Breath Against the Skin Photo of the Day
July 19, 2015

Breath Against the Skin

The air at high altitude has a specific, thin sharpness. It tastes of cold stone and damp moss, a flavor that settles at the back of the throat like a secret. I remember standing on a ridge where the mist didn’t just drift; it pressed against my clothes, a heavy, velvet dampness that made my […]
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