I once heard the Dalai Lama say in lecture that each second we live is a new reincarnation. New York-based photographer Jim Mangan seems to embrace this idea on a very fundamental level. Mangan explores the cycles of life in his dharma-influenced photographs—birth, death and rebirth being the central themes.

He says of his most recent project, Bedu: “Bedu is set among the desolate sand dunes of Utah’s Little Sahara Desert and depicts a journey of stepping outside the increasingly narrow confines of modern America. A group of closely-knit friends have created new identities by literally painting anew one’s identity with sand, obscuring their former selves and setting the stage for the ultimate experience of freedom and resurrection.”

Mangan’s work from another series Time of Nothing, a project exlploring the Great Salt Lake in Utah shot from 500 feet in the air in a Cessna plane, is currently on view at Martha Otero Gallery in Los Angeles through April 6th, 2013.

This post was contributed by photographer Mark Hartman.

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