A woman swings a child around a fire, where an effigy of the demon Ghantakarna was burnt to symbolize the destruction of evil, during the Ghantakarna festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur, Nepal August 12, 2015. According to local folklore, the demon is believed to “steal” children and women from their homes and localities. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

An activist lays on the floor of a skate park during a protest against environmental destructions in Jakarta, Indonesia, 19 March 2021. Dozens of youths participated in a rally as part of the global climate strike movement demanding government to declare the climate emergency. (Photo by Mast Irham/EPA/EFE)

An Indian woman dressed as Hindu Goddess Kali participates in a “Shivratri” procession in Allahabad, India, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014. “Shivaratri”, or the night of Shiva, is dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of death and destruction. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar SinghAP Photo)

Sabine Pearlman‘s photographs find beauty in the destructive engineering of ammunition with this series of cross-sections of bullets cartridges from a Swiss bunker. They reveal the complexity inside each case. This series, which consists of 900 specimens, was photographed inside a WWII bunker in Switzerland. Pearlman says that she is intrigued by the beautiful complexity of the ammo set against its destructive purpose, at once showing off humanity’s ability to create and destroy.

A wide-angle view shows the ascent of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. In the seconds after ignition, the rocket engines' hot blast began the process of destruction. (Photo by NASA)

An Indian Hindu man dressed as Lord Shiva holds a lit candle in his mouth as he takes part in a religious procession ahead of the Maha Shivratri Festival in Jalandhar on February 22, 2017. Hindus mark the Maha Shivratri festival by offering special prayers and fasting to worship Lord Shiva, the lord of destruction. (Photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP Photo)

A man dressed as Pothuraju, a mythical character, performs rituals during the Bonalu festival in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, June 30, 2022. Bonalu is a month-long Hindu folk festival of the Telangana region dedicated to Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

What do superheroes do when they’re not busy fighting bad guys and saving the world from destruction? Perhaps they’re drawing strength alone in the peace and quiet of the great outdoors. That’s the premise of French photographer Benoit Lapray‘s photo-manipulation series “The Quest for the Absolute.”